Recognition demonstrates Kennametal’s commitment to ethical leadership

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT) announced that the company has been named for the fourth consecutive year among the World’s Most Ethical Companies® by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices. The World’s Most Ethical Companies designation recognizes organizations that lead in the standards and practices of ethical business conduct by cultivating a culture of ethics and transparency at every level, and performing to the highest standards.

“This honor goes to the credit of Kennametal employees everywhere who uphold the highest standards of ethics and integrity, while also giving generously in the communities where we work and live,” said Kennametal President and CEO Don Nolan.

Kennametal is one of only four companies in the machine tools and accessories category honored by the Ethisphere Institute this year. Highlights of Kennametal’s recognition this year include:

• World-class ethics and compliance programs with universal employee engagement;
• Best-practice corporate governance;
• In-depth risk management across the supply chain;
• Consistent support for STEM education and communities by the Kennametal Foundation, with record contributions and volunteerism by Kennametal employees.

“The World’s Most Ethical Companies use ethics as a means to further define their industry leadership, and understand that creating an ethical culture and earning this recognition involves more than just an outward facing message,” said Ethisphere Chief Executive Officer Timothy Erblich. “It involves the collective action of a global workforce. We congratulate everyone at Kennametal for this extraordinary achievement.”

The co-founders of global engineering company Renishaw plc, Sir David McMurtry and John Deer, have been honoured with the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2014 Gloucester Citizen and Gloucestershire Echo Business Awards.

The award recognises individuals who have made a considerable, profitable and lasting contribution to business in Gloucestershire over a period of at least 20 years.

Stuart Barnes, director of award sponsor QuoLux, said, “I am delighted to announce that the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award has been given jointly to two men whose leadership, vision, skill, entrepreneurial spirit and determination led to the founding of Renishaw-one of Gloucestershire’s most outstanding success stories.

He continued, “Now Renishaw employ 2,000 people in the county and has 110 current apprentices and recruited 68 graduates this year. They are quite literally at the cutting edge of new technology, a global player whose expertise ranges from the latest 3D printing to providing the technology to help enable life-enhancing surgery.”

Speaking to BBC Radio Gloucestershire about the award, John Deer said, “It’s quite fantastic; a real honour”, whilst Sir David noted that although a lifetime award has a “degree of finality” he felt that “there is plenty of life in the old dogs yet!”

Renishaw was formed in April 1973 and although today it employs 3,600 people in 32 countries, for the first three years it was based at John Deer’s home in Chepstow, Wales, where the dining room was the office, the garage was the machine shop and assembly took place in the spare bedroom.

Ben Taylor, Renishaw’s Assistant Chief Executive, says, “We feel extremely proud of Sir David and John, who are modest men that have created a highly successful global company based on their founding principles of innovation, high quality manufacturing and excellent customer support. The standing ovation that they received from the 750 people present at the awards spoke volumes for what they have achieved over the past 40 years.”