In this episode, host Gaurav Batra, President & CEO of Ayna, welcomes Stephen Smith, Chairman, President & CEO of Amsted Industries, a diversified global manufacturer of industrial components. Operating since 1962, Amsted has 75 locations in 13 countries across 6 continents and is 100% employee owned. Steve joined Amsted in 2005 as Amsted Rail President, became General Counsel in 2007, and President & CEO in 2017. Previously, he was at GKN plc as General Counsel and President of shared services operations in North America from 1999 to 2005. Steve shares his perspectives on Amsted's heritage, ownership culture, growth strategy, and innovation. He emphasizes employee empowerment, investing for growth, and optimizing talent and capital management for value creation.

• Amsted's employee-owned model driving competitive advantage and resilience.
• Key markets driving Amsted's growth: data centres, eco-friendly tech.
• Amsted's diversification strategy mitigating cyclicality, surpasses benchmarks.
• Amsted empowering business units for strategic M&A ideation.
• Effective leadership: enabling the right people and optimal capital deployment.
• Transformative technologies at Amsted: additive manufacturing, AI vision systems.

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