Happy Retirement Ken! KMF's longest ever serving employee

We’ve bid farewell and said happy retirement to KMF’s longest serving member of staff ever, Ken Hollins.

Ken has been with KMF for almost as long as the company has been formed having joined on 3 December 1973, aged just 17.

It was a bittersweet day when Ken walked out of our doors to enjoy retirement as he approaches his 65th birthday this September.

Ken will be spending his time with his lovely wife Janet doing all the of the things he loves including, watching Stoke City, listening to Buddy Holly and bowling.

It felt only right that we honor this incredible, devoted man who has proven his adaptability over the years.

When Ken joined almost five decades ago his hourly rate was 50p and he has garnered many interesting memories since then, as well as a slight rise in his wage.

Ken recently recalled having to work only three days per week during the miners strikes because firms were made to keep their energy levels down so they could manage through the strike.

When it came to his tasks, Ken would try his hand at anything and everything which he truly did. The jobs he did over the years were incredibly varied starting with early CNC profiling, using a Strippit machine that could only punch one hole at a time, which seems ludicrous now in comparison to our latest Punch machine which runs at 1000s of hits per minute.

He’s carried out all sorts of bench work, used the early folding machines and then in his later years, kept up with younger employees by mastering the latest generation of the 5 series folding machine with offline programming and 3D geometry visuals. If that doesn’t show how adaptable Ken has been for 48-yeas, what will?

From all of us here at KMF, we want to say a HUGE thank you to Ken for your service, loyalty and great spirit. We wish you a long, enjoyable retirement and we hope you stay in touch.