Sherriff Amenity has announced the promotion of Joe Kinder who will now take on the role of technical manager for the company.

Joe, who has been in the industry from the moment he left school, has been with Sherriff Amenity for over fourteen years. After initially embarking on practical roles in the local authority sector and gaining a great understanding of amenity horticulture, Joe always found himself returning to sportsturf.

However, when the opportunity arose to join the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) as an agronomist, Joe saw it as a defining moment in deciding that his future would be in sports turf.

With a strong academic background combined with over 30 years of practical experience, Joe will need no time to adjust to his new role. In addition, Joe believes that his role as technical manager will enable him to put a lot of focus into future products. 

“I prefer to view the position as a more defined role, rather than a strictly new position, as I have been performing many of the responsibilities for a number of years. As Sherriff Amenity has grown, so has the requirement for additional colleague and customer support. I am involved in product development, trials, writing technical sales literature, agronomy, soil analysis reports and fertiliser programmes to name but a few. In short, I look for technical solutions, to varied problems.

“This role should enable me to spend more time on the important task of product development. A loss of chemical active ingredients will present both difficulties and opportunities within our industry. We need to ensure we are working towards finding the best alternative, scientifically proven’ solutions,” he said. 

Throughout his impressive work history, Joe has seen how the industry has adapted and changed on a regular basis; something which he says is “endlessly fascinating.” The emergence of technology has coincided with some major developments already in the industry and Joe believes that it will continue to have an even greater presence in the future.

“It has been a particular goal of mine to see greater use of information technology in our industry.  Computers tablets and smart phones are now everywhere. A further goal is to ensure products are accountable and to empower our customers, by providing them with the ability to measure and prove the value of the products we are selling them.

“To achieve this I plan on working with people that know how to build computer programmes and also understand the amenity business. If I can contribute in some small way to these changing dynamics, even just a few ideas, then that would be great. I am looking forward to demonstrating both concepts at STRI Turf Science this September.

“Growing grass is a simple task that we can easily over complicate. However, standards are set very high and I would like to think the Technical Manager role will help Sherriff Amenity stay ahead of the game,” he said.

www.sherriffamenity.com