Patrick Vandenberghe, (engineer from the University of Gent, 1981), European HR Director ArcelorMittal
Patrick Vandenberghe, (engineer from the University of Gent, 1981), European HR Director ArcelorMittal

ArcelorMittal regains confidence and growth in France

During the crisis, ArcelorMittal, the world’s leading steel and mining company, had to make some difficult decisions, notably in France. The group’s European HR Director, Patrick Vandenberghe, (an engineer from the University of Gent, Belgium, 1981) underlines how necessary this was in order to preserve the future. A strategy that seems to have paid off today.

Patrick Vandenberghe, (engineer from the University of Gent, 1981), European HR Director ArcelorMittal
Patrick Vandenberghe, (engineer from the University of Gent, 1981), European HR Director ArcelorMittal

How does ArcelorMittal manage to blend a global market with local operations ?
For a global group active on all continents like ours, it is a challenge and an opportunity. There is a permanent balance to be found between having a global strategy and local operations. At the executive level we strive for a clear performance and results based culture, respecting and promoting the differences in local management cultures and practices. We are an industrial group, we are hands on and we are conscious that what is a good managerial approach in France may not always work in other countries. At a local level, each site manager has the responsibility for their own teams, for the optimisation of their results, the quality of the production and customer relations.

 

Is there an ArcelorMittal « spirit » ?
Our business spirit can be defined through our values “sustainability, quality and leadership”, but it’s our cultural and geographical diversity that makes up our real richness. Within our teams we can find employees from all four corners of the world, thanks to encouraging mobility inside the group.

 

«We are amongst those industrial groups with the richest future :
a world without steel
is not for tomorrow! »

In Europe and in particular, ArcelorMittal’s reputation has been hit hard over the last few years. Do you have a strategy to improve it ?
Our strategy is based on honesty and reality. The European steel market is still suffering from an overcapacity of 30 %. We made some brave decisions in the last few years in adjusting our industrial footprint. This means that we will be in a position to bounce back once the weak market picks up again. Since 2006 investment from ArcelorMittal in France has continued and amounts to over 2 billion Euros and we are currently restarting our recruitment plans.

 

What opportunities can you offer to high potential candidates looking to join a large group like yours ?
We have a wide diversity in terms of professions, locations and responsibilities. We cover all jobs from engineers to sales, legal advisors to financial managers without forgetting HR, purchasing- or IT experts. The group’s largest R&D site is in Maizières-lès-Metz in France and counts over 500 researchers (engineers, physicians, mathematicians) developing our products and improving our production processes. In terms of career development, we allow for all possible evolutions from project managers, experts to senior management and all this within a global context.

 

Key figures
ArcelorMittal is the world’s leading steel and mining company. Guided by a philosophy to produce safe, sustainable steel, it is the leading supplier of quality steel products in all major markets including automotive, construction, household appliances and packaging.
245 000 employees in over 60 countries
Turnover : USD 80 billion per year
Production : 90 million tonnes of steel a year
In Europe, an industrial footprint in over
14 countries with 82 000 employees and
230 sites.
3 000 researchers in R&D of which 800 in France
The majority of our production for construction steel (a third of all steel products made by ArcelorMittal) is produced from recycled scrap.

 

ML

 

Contact : laurent.guerra@arcelormittal.com, HR Director ArcelorMittal France