Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) is a world player in paper based packaging with leading market positions in Europe and in Latin America. With sales in 2010 in excess of €6.5 billion and around 38,000 employees, the Smurfit Kappa Group is a focused player in paper based packaging.

The Group’s Advanced Management Development Programme (AMD), which has now been running for over a decade, helps to develop managers, both professionally as well as personally, to progress within the company. The AMD programme has been continuously improved every year and this year’s version will bring the total number of participating managers since 2000 to more than 240. Many of these participants have achieved significant advancement within the Group.

Last week, over 30 participants from 16 countries attended an intensive series of modules at the UCD Smurfit Graduate School of Business as part of this year’s programme. Edward Sweeney of NITL contributed to the supply chain management (SCM) module. His session introduced participants to the key components of world class SCM. In the second part of this module, Zulima Ortega (Supply Chain Systems Director for SKG) explained how these principles are being applied by the company as part of its overall corporate strategy.