Case Study: Smurfit Kappa achieves retention of high-potential employees after global merger with Lumesse Talent Management

World Leader in Packaging Retains High Potential Employees Following Global Merger

Smurfit Kappa, created by the 2005 merger of Jefferson Smurfit Group and Kappa Packaging and employing around 38,000 people worldwide, needed to identify and retain high‑potential talent during a complex integration. With no single HR system across Europe and a pressing need for timely, consolidated people data, the central HR team required a robust, flexible solution to support organisational restructuring, compensation, and succession planning.

The Group adopted and upgraded Lumesse Talent Management, quickly migrating and standardising data, training HR teams across Europe and building an intranet portal. Within months they centralised over 900 managerial profiles from 20 countries, improved org‑charting and succession forecasting (revealing large 2010 retirements), and moved from a paper-based process to a streamlined, long‑term HR strategy that secured key talent and enabled ongoing global rollout.

Smurfit Kappa