Kennametal, Inc. is a manufacturer of high-performance cutting tools and engineered components used in the aerospace, defense, transportation and oil and gas drilling industries. Its customer base is global. Former office of Vanadium Alloys Steel Company

Former office of Vanadium Alloys Steel Company

History

Kennametal was founded in 1938 by Philip M. McKenna in the

Latrobe, Pennsylvania Latrobe ( ) is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,060 as of the 2020 census. A part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, it is located near Pennsylvania's scenic Chestnut Ridge. Latrobe was incorpo ...

area. The company evolved from Vanadium Alloys Steel Company (VASCO), founded in 1910 by the McKenna family with its headquarters in

. While research director of VASCO, metallurgist Philip McKenna developed and received a patent for a tungsten-titanium carbide composition. McKenna formed Kennametal, Inc. for the purpose of marketing this alloy. The company's original flagship product, known as "Kennametal", was introduced in the late 1930s. It was described as "much harder than the hardest tool steel," which enabled high-rate steel cutting not possible previously. In July 1940, Kennametal of Canada Ltd. was organized for the purpose of "manufacturing Kennametal, the new steel cutting carbide, for Canada and British dominions." In November 1940, United States Steel Export Company reached an agreement to sell Kennametal tools, tool blanks, drawing dies and other Kennametal products in foreign markets. During World War II, more than 50% of the artillery shells produced in the United States were machined with the Kennametal product. During this period the company developed a new type of anti-tank

projectile A projectile is an object that is propelled by the application of an external force and then moves freely under the influence of gravity and air resistance. Although any objects in motion through space are projectiles, they are commonly found ...

made of

tungsten Tungsten (also called wolfram) is a chemical element; it has symbol W and atomic number 74. It is a metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively in compounds with other elements. It was identified as a distinct element in 1781 and first ...

with a hard

carbide In chemistry, a carbide usually describes a compound composed of carbon and a metal. In metallurgy, carbiding or carburizing is the process for producing carbide coatings on a metal piece. Interstitial / Metallic carbides The carbides of th ...

core. The company has expanded through acquisitions, including the purchase o
Widia Group
(2002, 188 million Euros
Extrude Hone Corp.
(2005, $137 million) and Allegheny Technologies' tungsten materials unit (2013, $605 million).

Production

Kennametal products: *Blades, disks, skins, fuel control systems, and landing gear for the

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

industry *Synthetic fertilizers for

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

*Camshafts, crankshafts, cylinder heads, rotors, calipers and differentials for

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

s *Roofing and abrasives for home construction *Asphalt, stabilization tools, and tunneling equipment for road construction *Woodworking tools *

Machining Machining is a manufacturing process where a desired shape or part is created using the controlled removal of material, most often metal, from a larger piece of raw material by cutting. Machining is a form of subtractive manufacturing, which util ...

industries: **

Machine tool A machine tool is a machine for handling or machining metal or other rigid materials, usually by cutting, Boring (manufacturing), boring, grinding (abrasive cutting), grinding, shearing, or other forms of deformations. Machine tools employ some s ...

s: Machining centers, turning centers (CNC lathes),

automatic lathe In metalworking and woodworking, an automatic lathe is a lathe with an automation, automatically controlled cutting process. Automatic lathes were first developed in the 1870s and were mechanically controlled. From the advent of NC and CNC in t ...

s (screw machines) ** Tooling for machine tools: *** Indexable toolholders,

collet A collet is a segmented sleeve, band or ''collar''. One of the two radial surfaces of a collet is usually tapered (i.e a truncated cone) and the other is cylindrical. The term ''collet'' commonly refers to a type of chuck that uses collets ...

s *** fixtures *** cutting tools (via Products Group, a consolidation of various brands in this industry): inserts,

tool bit In machining, a tool bit is a non-rotary cutting tool used in metal lathes, shapers, and planers. Such cutters are also often referred to by the set-phrase name of single-point cutting tool, as distinguished from other cutting tools such as a s ...

milling cutter Milling cutters are cutting tools typically used in milling machines or machining centres to perform milling operations (and occasionally in other machine tools). They remove material by their movement within the machine (e.g., a ball nose mill) ...

s, taps and dies, metal sawing cutters and tooling *Mining equipment *Abrasives and flow control for the

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

industry *Generating equipment for electric power plants *Fluids for the paper industry *Wheels and axles for

rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

*Custom engineering

Brands

In 2009, Kennametal announced that they migrated all its current brands into two distinct portfolios: WIDIA Products Group and Kennametal Products Group.

WIDIA Products Group

This group markets several brands: WIDIA, Hanita, and WIDIA GTD. The GTD stands for Greenfield Tap & Die and was initially formed in 1912.

Kennametal Products Group

Kennametal Products Group provides metalworking tools, metal powders, and wear-resistant coatings such as Conforma-Clad and Stellite.

Financial Results and Credit Rating

Kennametal's fiscal year ends on June 30. For fiscal years 2020 through 2024, results ranged from a loss of $5.66 million to net income of $118.46 million. With respect to the 2020 loss, the company said: "The effects of COVID-19 were felt in every region during the quarter and created a challenging environment." The company returned to profitability in the following fiscal year. In September 2024,

Moody's Ratings Moody's Ratings, previously and still legally known as Moody's Investors Service and often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business of Moody's Corporation, representing the company's traditional line of business and its histori ...

affirmed Kennametal's Baa3 credit rating, and opined that the outlook for the rating was "stable."

References

External links

*
Widia.com
{{Authority control American companies established in 1938 Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies based in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Latrobe, Pennsylvania 1938 establishments in Pennsylvania Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange