Hammer Packaging Thriving on Change

By Adam Dewitz on May 12th, 2008

Dr. Ashok Rao, Dean of RIT’s E. Philip Saunders College of Business has a blog post on Rochester-based Hammer Packaging. In his blog post Rao describes some of the challenges the company has faced in the last two decades:

Since taking over as president and CEO Jim Hammer has fostered a culture centered on the inevitability of change. “Expect it, accept it, thrive on it,” says Hammer. New Hammer associates hear this message when hired and continually throughout their careers. “Our markets have gotten progressively more competitive, and the driving challenge is to maintain one’s competitive advantage. To us that equates to innovation,” says Hammer.

Hammer Packaging has a dedicated “Innovation Department” that investigates how the company can leverage emerging technologies, and has a close relationships with RIT and the School of Print Media. James E. Hammer, president and CEO of Hammer Packaging Corp recently said of his companies partnership with RIT, “We work closely with RIT’s co-op program, especially students from the School of Print Media, and have quite a few RIT alumni working in our manufacturing plant, which also is located on a parcel of land we purchased from RIT. So you can say we have an ongoing connection.”