Game-Changing Technology, Different Thinking

Help Customers Improve Productivity by Up to 300%

by Carlos M. Cardoso
Chairman, President and CEO
Kennametal Inc.


IMTS is always an exciting time for showcasing and discussing manufacturing technology, and this year promises to be particularly exciting as industry begins to slowly recover from one of the worst global recessions in decades.

While industry continues to lead this gradual recovery, we in manufacturing have a great opportunity in helping sustain economic growth. Analysts say every recession creates winning and losing companies; a main difference being winning companies will take this opportunity to prepare for the future.

Kennametal took the window of opportunity provided by the economic downturn to lay the foundation necessary to position the company as a winner in the long-term, ready to capitalize on the upturn and grow. By transforming its entire organization to be more customer-focused by industry segment to better serve our customers, Kennametal is better positioned to reach its full potential through maximizing the effectiveness of its people, its core processes, and technology -- leveraging the full power of our enterprise to make our customers more profitable every day.

We are doing this with a fresh approach, focusing on what differentiates us from the competition and sets us apart from the status quo. We believe it is our ability to provide the whole spectrum of solutions and services to our customers from the start to the finish of their process. We are also committed to working with them to create the custom tooling and service solution that will fit their needs and increase their productivity and competitive advantage in the marketplace.

This commitment is supported by a solid foundation of materials science, decades of product development, and the talent and skill set of each and every one of our people. Driven by the voice of our customer, we never stop inventing, designing, testing, and manufacturing best-in-class tooling and solutions. We remain committed to introducing new products at a market-leading pace and rely on our customers to drive our product innovation. Our strategic investments in R&D are evident in our ability to consistently generate sales from new products of 40% or more each year since 2003. This past fiscal year, despite a down economy, we generated 40% of sales from new products and are excited to continue advancing innovation.

Speaking of advancing innovation, “Beyond Blast“, making its debut here at IMTS 2010, is a great example of what we mean by commitment to new products and different thinking. Beyond Blast presents a quantum leap in productivity for our customers, delivering up to 300% productivity improvement, depending upon the application. By channeling coolant through the insert, Beyond Blast delivers coolant not in the general area of the cutting zone, but directly where the tool edge meets the material. This breakthrough ensures longer tool life, better cutting performance and chip control, plus more efficient coolant delivery, heat transfer, and lubricity. Initial tests show tool life for Beyond Blast at 100 psi was nearly that of identical insert geometries at 1,000 psi – delivering cutting conditions and longer tool life on a par with expensive, custom high-pressure coolant delivery systems at significantly lower cost.

The game-changing Beyond Blast will not only improve part-production processes but also decrease power consumption and improve coolant management and a manufacturing company’s environmental standing—an obvious benefit to protecting our planet and a clear case of where different thinking can take our customers. When future histories of manufacturing technology and tool development are written, this will stand out as a significant milestone.

Beyond Blast’s status as a breakthrough product is even more notable when you consider that even with cavities and channels for delivering the coolant, tool life and cutting performance exceeds that of most solid inserts. Beyond grades, based on our experience engineering advanced substrates, proprietary coatings, and innovative tool design, continue to garner outstanding performance improvements in the field, cutting parts that customers said couldn’t be cut or increasing speeds to meet accelerated delivery schedules. This IMTS, we are showcasing new Beyond-grade products for holemaking (Beyond DFS™), turning (Beyond Fix Perfect™), and in solid end mills (KCPM 15™), all designed for increased performance and extended tool life in many demanding applications.

IMTS 2010 also marks the introduction of WIDIA-brand cutting tools to North America. Announced at the EMO Milan show last fall, the WIDIA brand not only encompasses new WIDIA Victory products in turning, milling, holemaking, and more, it also comprises other former standalone products such as Circle, Rubig, Clapp-DiCo, and Hanita. Under the WIDIA brand name, Kennametal distributors are now marketing a full range of advanced metalworking solutions to their customers.

We want to win our customers by earning and extending our reputation as the most knowledgeable and easiest partner to do business with. We also want to become recognized leaders in customer loyalty, know-how and satisfaction. In order to do so, we must listen closely to our customers, rely on them for feedback, and never stop asking “What if...?”  When we are consistently “winning the customer” and applying different thinking, we are truly on the path of breaking away and taking our business to the next level and beyond. More importantly, we are having a material impact on helping our customers take THEIR business to the next level and beyond!

We invite you to spend time exploring the entire range of innovative solutions on display at the Kennametal and WIDIA booths at IMTS 2010 and look forward to your reactions and questions.