The company was founded in 1938 and first developed tungsten-titanium carbide alloys. The company had 12 employees and US$30,000 in revenues in its first year. Since then, Kennametal has grown 100,000-fold to nearly US$3 billion in revenues, serving more than 80,000 customers in 60-plus countries.
“We drive a strong culture of innovation and performance at Kennametal, starting with knowledgeable people and proprietary material science to develop better tooling technologies and engineered components for the world’s most demanding work,” said Carlos Cardoso, Kennametal chairman, president and CEO. “Today, we consistently achieve 40% or more of sales each year from new products that offer customers at least 20% performance improvement.”
Kennametal plans a year-long celebration, beginning on 1 March, with various activities planned throughout the globe.