Callens marks 60 years by honoring its people as "Legends"

Callens is turning 60, and instead of celebrating the company, it's putting its employees in the spotlight. Known as Calliërs, they've been renamed the "Legends" of Callens' rich history for the occasion. The anniversary year culminated in September with "W. The Legends," an event dedicated to the Legends and to the company's late founder, Willy Callens.

The name "Calliërs" was introduced in 2018, and every employee has worn it with pride ever since. This year, management decided to take that recognition a step further. Annick Callens and Windy Moerman, the second-generation CEOs of the family business, are giving their employees the title of "Legends" for the year. 

Callens started out as a one-man operation in 1966. Sixty years later, it's a group of companies with 430 employees in Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. In every country, engineers, welders, mechanics, service and maintenance technicians, and administrative staff work together to make life easier for customers and help them turn their ambitions into reality. 

In September, Callens celebrated its 60th anniversary internally with all Calliërs, including retired colleagues, because once a 'Calliër', always a 'Calliër'. The event was named "W. The Legends." The "W" stands for "we," as in "We are the legends," and it also pays tribute to Willy Callens, the company's late founder. 

The anniversary comes at a tough time for industry. Economic uncertainty and volatile energy prices are leading more companies to put investments on hold. Even so, Annick Callens and Windy Moerman remain optimistic. Their clear priorities provide stability for both the company and its employees. 

Innovation is one of the strategies that made Callens what it is today, and the CEOs plan to keep investing in it. New technologies are essential for turning instability into an advantage. For example, the company increasingly designs and installs electric boilers and boilers that can run on multiple fuels. They adjust in real time to fuel availability and prices. They're also one of the key technologies Callens uses to guide industry toward a climate-neutral future. 

Callens' Department of Technology, based in Waregem, makes innovations like these practical and cost-effective.