Jónas Thór Friðriksson has been appointed sales manager for Hampiðjan’s ropes and netting. He joins Hampiðjan after 20 years as sales manager of Ísfell’s trawl gear division, and his career began at Westman Islands company Netagerðin Ingólfur, where he trained in fishing gear technology and worked for 14 years.

‘I’m delighted and excited to be joining Hampiðjan. This is a leading company where everything is on a larger scale than I’m used to. As one of the parent company’s staff, my role is to sell the production of the Hampiðjan Baltic factory in Lithuania to subsidiary companies and branches around the world. I think there are 25 or 26 of these affiliates now, working across 42 sites,’ Jónas Thór Friðriksson said, adding that for the first month in the new job, coronavirus has ruled out spending much time with new colleagues.

‘For the first three week I was working remotely, and have now had a week at headquarters. When I took the job, the prospect was for a lot of travelling, but the last few weeks have taught us to make the most of technology for working remotely. Although this doesn’t replace the importance of meeting people face-to-face. Being there in person makes it easier to build up mutual trust than sitting or standing in front of a computer,’ he said.
‘We are very pleased that Jónas has joined the Hampiðjan team and we look forward to a long and positive future. He has a great deal of experience in both fishing gear technology and sales, as well as a strong knowledge of the products we manufacture, plus he has the experience of seeing the development of these materials over recent decades,’ said Hampiðjan’s CEO Hjörtur Erlendsson.