Business students at Beech Hill College recently visited an American multinational company “National Pen Ltd”, who have their European base in Dundalk, Co. Louth for the last 22 years.
They were greeted on arrival by Ms. Bridie Clifford (Senior Executive Assistant) and by Mr. Peter Kelly (Operations Manager).
After an initial address concerning health and safety procedures, students were taken on a number of tours including around the production plant, the telesales department, the finance/wages departments etc.
The production tour was lead by Mr. Paul Brady (Warehouse Manager) who demonstrated the modern laser technology now in use to scan images onto many different products e.g. pens, notepads, calendars, pocket lamps etc. The importance of quality control, stock control, communication, organisation and recycling were also highlighted. Students also got to meet the distributions manager who explained the various methods of distribution used to get the finished products to customers located all over the world (some as far away as New Zealand and Australia).
While on the tour of the various departments led by Mr. Aidan Hughes (Telesales Manager), students were amazed at hearing the various languages in use to address customer queries from all over the EU from English, Irish, German, Spanish, French etc. The importance of marketing, sales promotions, knowing your customer, public relations and personal selling was also emphasised to the students.
Following the various tours the students were addressed by Ms. Pam Harkness (Head of Recruitment Europe), a former barrister, who outlined the importance of employment legislation such as the Employment Equality Act, 1998, the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977-93 and the Data Protection Act 1998.
The Business Studies department at Beech Hill College would like to take this opportunity to thank the management and staff at National Pen ltd for their time and for their specially produced souvenir pens (in both Irish and English). The students really benefitted from getting a rare insight at “behind the scenes” within the management of a multinational company.
Business Studies Visit
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Seen here with the Beech Hill College Business students are, from right to left: Mr. Peter Kelly (Operations Manager – Europe), Mr. Aidan Hughes (Call Centre Manager), Ms. Pam Harkness (Head of Recruitment- Europe), Ms. Michelle Moore (Business Studies Teacher), Mr. Seán Mulholland (Business Studies Teacher) and Mr. Paul Brady (Warehouse Manager).
