MUDEC students are strongly encouraged to go “Beyond the Château Walls” and to pursue experiential outside of MUDEC during the semester. The two main pillars for those experiences are Service Learning and Internships, neither of which would be possible without the support of an extensive series of partner organizations in Luxembourg. ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel & mining company, is one of them.

Thierry Laux, CMO Sheet Piling at ArcelorMittal and graduate of the MBA program at Miami University, tells us more about the business and the internships below.

ArcelorMittal is the world’s largest steel company. Tell us a bit about the part of the company where MUDEC interns have been working.

ArcelorMittal Sheet Piling is the commercial department in charge of marketing and selling the steel sheet piles produced in ArcelorMittal’s steel mills in Luxembourg, Poland and France.

Manalapan seawall and storm protection barrier, Palm Beach, FL-photo © Smith Aerial photos

ArcelorMittal sheet piles are used worldwide for the construction of essential infrastructure like ports, river waterways, flood protection barriers, bridges for roads and railways, underground car parks and containment structures protecting the environment.

Based in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg, our Sales and Marketing team has a really international profile, with people from more than 10 nationalities serving customers all around the world. The technical marketing department develops a wide range of tools, from marketing brochures and online content to technical reference guides that help civil engineers design and optimize the future infrastructures. The contribution of these teams is visible all round us. This is something very motivating for young people interested in joining a fast-moving company such as ArcelorMittal.

How did you decide to take interns from MUDEC?

Steel sheet piles used in the construction of the new ‘De Entree’ underwater bicycle shed for 7,000 bicycles in front of Amsterdam’s central train station-photo © Arcelor Mittal

We had contact with MUDEC a few years ago, but the student profiles that we look for are often in civil engineering—geotechnical preferred and supply chain, which we know are not the usual majors that MUDEC students have. Also, there is sometimes a language requirement for French and German. It worked out once we found students with the right profile.

How did the interns help your business and what would you say to other companies that might be interested in the program?

We host international interns regularly, and we have now had the pleasure to have student interns from MUDEC for two semesters in a row.

Their main contribution has been the review of our marketing documentation. Thanks to their engineering background, they quickly understood the topics and requirements and they were extremely helpful in improving our messages to our customers.

With their curiosity and genuine questions, they brought an invaluable fresh eye to our work, supporting our marketing efforts. This is one of ArcelorMittal's strengths: we make sure that our teams are made up of talented people from different backgrounds. This gives us an opportunity to learn from each other.

Find out more about how MUDEC Fall 2019 student Claire Berry opened the doors to ArcelorMittal and how Spring 2020 student Hunter Friel interned at ArcelorMittal.