Two members of Kenrick’s team have celebrated 50 years of service this year. Nash Singh Ranue and Davinder Kaur both joined the West Bromwich-based hardware supplier in 1971, aged just 16.
Nash, a product development engineer, began his career with Kenrick as an apprentice. His engineering talent was soon spotted and he moved into product development. Nash, who develops and tests Kenrick’s prototypes and finished products, also spends a lot of time working alongside customers, helping them to understand and trial new products. Nash has been behind the development some of Kenrick’s best-known flagship products, including the Excalibur window lock. Excalibur is now one of Kenrick’s best sellers, the company claims, with the firm now selling around 500,000 sets of the shootbolts a year.
He said: “I’ve never worked anywhere else except Kenrick, but I don’t see that as a bad thing at all. It’s hard to believe I have been here for half a century! I’ve really enjoyed spending my working life at Kenrick, and having the opportunity to be part of a team that develops industry-leading products. I couldn’t imagine working anywhere else.”
Davinder, an assembly operative, has worked in many different departments on the shop floor, including machining, assembly and packing. Members of Davinder’s family have also worked at Kenrick, including her husband, brother and sister-in-law. Davinder is part of Kenrick’s 16-strong operative team. Literally, millions of Kenrick castors and hardware products have passed through her hands during her five decades at Kenrick.
She said: “Kenrick is like a second home to me. I have been very happy here for the last 50 years. There is a genuine family feel about the business, and everyone is really supportive of each other – it almost doesn’t feel like I’m coming to work.”
Andy White, operations manager at Kenrick, added: “There are so few companies today that have a long-standing heritage and true family values, and even fewer that have loyal staff who have served for half a century! Nash and Davinder are our longest ever serving members of staff and they have both been a tremendous asset to the business throughout their careers. Congratulations to them both on such an achievement.”
