Tom is Hamworthy Pumps’ anchor-man in the Nordic and Baltic countries
Tom Sverre Knutsen has been a veteran in marine industry for the past 37 years with last 14 years in Hamworthy Pumps as Regional Sales Manager for Nordic & Baltic region. To leverage on his experience in marine, Tom extended his service as a Consultant for the company since 2019 where he also assists in conducting training and transferring his knowledge to the juniors.
The customers are shipowners, and a large part of the work is with Norwegian shipowners and trading houses. “I am the only employee in Norway who deals with new business and aftersales. Norway is a relatively large shipping nation and has a huge shipping market,” says Tom.
He adds that he sees market demand currently on the rise after a period of declining activity.
Engineering background
In his many years as a sales engineer, Tom Sverre Knutsen has used his engineering background as a sounding board for customers.
He is trained as an electrical engineer. He also has experience in the process industry, including oil and gas, and he has worked in the automation industry.
However, the current industry is special.
“The marine industry is unique, and I love visiting the customers, who are extremely dynamic,” says the sales manager.
Focus on OEM parts
He has a sharp focus on serving customers quickly and well in his work, which is why he also works hard to explain the benefits of buying original spare parts when pumps need servicing. This is the customer’s best guarantee for optimum performance and minimum critical downtime of the pump.
“We are fighting to bring genuine parts back to the market. 20 years ago, replica parts accounted for 20% of parts in the market. Now half of the spare parts are replicas,” estimates Tom Sverre Knutsen.
“Our response times are optimal, and our pricing is competitive even given that we are the OEM and only offer genuine parts”, he adds.
Besides stocking various bare-shaft pump models, Hamworthy Pumps has up to 85% spares requirement readily available for worldwide delivery to meet customers’ project schedules.