Hammer manager to add a touch of green

Environmental head appointed to aid WEEE compliance and stress friendly products

Specialist storage distributor Hammer has been expanding its ranks with the appointment of new sales staff and an environmental manager.

James Ward, managing director of Hammer, said: “We have been on a recruitment drive and taken on eight sales people, bringing the total to 50 sales staff. There are still many resellers that don’t know what Hammer does. The best way to reach them is through expanding our sales team.”

Hammer has also appointed its first environmental manager.

“Ann-Marie Hill joins us from Hewlett-Packard (HP) where she was environmental manager. Her remit in this newly created position involves ensuring Hammer is environmentally friendly and compliant with regulations, such as the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, as well as advising our resellers,” said Ward. “There is still a lot of confusion over WEEE and also the Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive, so we want to help resellers understand and comply.”

Jason Rabbetts, managing director of storage VAR StorPoint, said: “Hammer is the first storage distributor I know to appoint an environmental manager. It would certainly be useful, particularly if it enables Hammer to highlight new products that deliver benefits around lower power consumption.”

Ward is also looking to grow Hammer’s presence in Europe.

“Last year we opened an office in Sweden; a year on, that business is now profitable and has four staff based there. Within the next 12 months we will open two more European offices.

“We haven’t outgrown the UK. There are still a lot more customers for us to establish relationships with, but there aren’t many specialist distributors like us in Europe,” added Ward.

Hammer signs Sepaton agreement