Icelandic seafood company HB Grandi has made a number of changes to its management structure. The modifications affect the organizational position of quality management and new roles are introduced in the groundfish and marketing departments. No changes were made to the company's senior management.
The position of head of quality management has been transferred from the marketing department to the CEO´s office, meaning Erlendur Stefansson, who heads quality management at HB Grandi, will now operate directly under CEO Vilhjalmur Vilhjalmsson. The quality managers at Reykjavik and Akranes that report to him, Bergur Einarsson and Axel Eyfjord Fridriksson, will also operate under the CEO’s office.
Stefansson has been HB Grandi’s head of quality management since 2014.
Karl Mar Einarsson assumes a new position of assistant director of the groundfish fepartment, the largest department within HB Grandi in terms of personnel with a staff of 600. Einarsson has been the fleet manager of HB Grandi’s freezer vessels for the past two years.
Loftur Bjarni Gislason succeeds Einarsson as the fleet manager of HB Grandi’s freezer vessels. Since 2013, Gislason has worked as the fleet manager of HB Grandi’s wetfish trawlers and he has worked for the department since 2006.
Birkir Hrannar Hjalmarsson succeeds Gislason as the Fleet Manager of HB Grandi’s wetfish trawlers. Hjalmarsson began working for HB Grandi in 2004 within the fleet management operations, and for the past three years he has been the production manager at the Nordurgardur processing facility in Reykjavik.
Gisli Kristjansson succeeds Hjalmarsson as production manager at the Nordurgardur plant in Reykjavík. Kristjansson has worked as a project manager in the groundfish department since autumn 2013 and has been engaged in special projects.
Solveig Arna Johannesdottir has been appointed marketing manager of groundfish products, a new position in the marketing department. Johannesdottir began working for HB Grandi in 2005 as marketing representative, and since 2006, she has been sales manager for fresh products.
Jon Helgason has been appointed marketing manager for pelagic products – a new position in the marketing department. Helgason had worked for Haraldur Bodvarsson since 1991 as production manager and before that as production manager of Heimaskagi from 1983. He became sales manager for pelagic products in 2005.
Sindri Mar Atlason will become sales manager for fresh products. Atlason has worked as sales representative in the marketing department since 2014, and before that worked for Vignir G. Jonsson.
Arthur Karlsson will begin as sales representative for frozen and fresh products in August 2016. Karlsson has worked as team foreman in offloading at Nordurgardur since 2009.
Meanwhile, construction work on HB Grandi´s new groundfish production facility in Vopnafjordur is making good progress and if everything goes according to plan, groundfish production could start in November.
The processing facility is located in a building where Tangi hf previously ran a freezing plant and there is a 500 square meter production area for 35 to 40 staff to work.
According to the facility’s technical manager Bardur Jonasson the refrigeration systems are due to be installed at the end of this month, along with the air conditioning plant. Other equipment is being delivered according to the schedule.
“We’ll have a heading machine and two filleting machines from Curio in Hafnarfjordur. The tub system, the skin chiller and the skinning system are from Skaginn in Akranes and the Flexicut waterjet trimming machine and the trimming and packing line are from Marel,” he said.
Finishing touches need to be made to the processing room before its processing equipment can be installed.
“The next major step is the epoxy covering for the floors and walls of the processing room. I understand that laying the material and its drying time are around 18 days, and once that is over we can start installing the equipment and fitting the connections and supply lines,” said Jonasson.
