Chris Hufflett Appointed ATSE Group Operations Director

ATS Euromaster has appointed Chris Hufflett, 45, to the position of group operations director, completing an internal restructuring programme which has seen the country divided into four divisions, each with its own dedicated divisional operations director and divisional sales manager. He takes over from Vince McGurk, 48, who is joining parent company Euromaster Group to take on the new position of European operations progress director at Euromaster Group’s head office in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

Hufflett brings extensive industry experience to the role, having been employed for the last three years as one of ATS Euromaster’s divisional operations directors, looking after South West England and Wales. Before joining the company in 2006, he spent more than 10 years at vehicle distribution and logistics specialist Walon, most recently as operations director.

Commenting on his appointment, Hufflett says: “My primary aim is to keep the business focused on growth and performance. 2009 is going to be a tough year for all sectors of industry, but our structural re-organisation puts ATS Euromaster in a strong position and ensures we are best placed to respond quickly to new opportunities and provide an enhanced service to customers.”

Hufflett will report directly to Ian Stuart, group managing director, and will be based at ATS Euromaster’s 24-hour customer service centre in Aston, Birmingham.

New sales and operations structure

The new sales and operations structure has been implemented following a strategic review designed to support ATS Euromaster’s continued growth, following a year which has seen the company re-assert its position in the fleet sector following major business gains with three of the top contract hire fleets.

In addition to having a divisional operations director and divisional sales manager, each of the four new regional divisions will also benefit from a dedicated truck area operations manager, whose sole focus will be to support commercial vehicle customers, whilst a dedicated mobile area operations manager will be responsible for the fleet of approximately 300 mobile service vans operating in each division.

Under the new structure, ATS Euromaster has also highlighted its top performing 100 retail centres, which will each benefit from a specific retail focus, including additional marketing spend in the local area and support from a new six-strong team of retail area operations managers.