Comprehensive Services - and Beyond(TM) at Kennametal's IMTS Booth


(LATROBE, PA) - While Kennametal's booth at IMTS 2008, F-2060, will take as its theme the company's comprehensive level of services to the world's metalworking industries, shop owners, department heads, and other show attendees will see Kennametal service is based on a strong foundation of groundbreaking milling, holemaking, and turning technology.

IMTS 2008 will mark the introduction of Beyond(TM), a platform for a new generation of high-performance products. "Customers will be able to apply Beyond(TM) tools across a wide range of cutting parameters with extended tool life and higher productivity as the results," says Ujjwal (UJ) Baid, Kennametal senior product manager. Beyond(TM) products feature a new surface treatement that improves edge toughness and reliability and micropolishes the surface to reduce friction and workpiece sticking; plus a fine-grained alumina layer that improves productivity and reliability at high cutting temperatures.

The new Beyond(TM) line will comprise five new grades and 22 geometries for steel turning, three new grades and 10 geometries for cast iron turning, and three new grades and eight geometries for stainless steel turning. Manufacturers in the transportation, aerospace, oil and gas, medical, and general engineering industries could realize significant speed, feed, and depth of cut increases depending on the application. "Our goal is help customers further optimize their performance with tools that are more reliable and predictable while providing higher productivity and tool life," says Baid.

Also on the turning side, six new Widia turning grades will be launched at IMTS. Four grades will be targeted at steel workpiece materials and two for gray and ductile irons. Widia now offers customers a complete portfolio of high-performance products for finishing, medium, and rough machining of all types of steels and cast irons. These new products provide increased wear resistance and can improve customer productivity by reducing cycle times, machining more parts per edge, and lowering overall manufacturing costs.

These Widia grades also use a new post-coat treatment process that provides longer predictable tool life and improved edge toughness, making performance more dependable. "Widia's advanced coating technology provides better wear-resistance and high-speed capability that enable our customers to reduce cycle times and lower their manufacturing costs, making them more competitive," states Tim Marshall, senior product manager.

The Manchester threading, grooving, and cut-off product line also will be introduced as Widia Manchester at IMTS. "The addition of the Manchester threading, grooving, and cut-off products to the Widia brand positions Widia to be a world-class player in this market," says Scott Etling, global product manager. Products like the MTC double-ended grooving, turning, and cutoff, Separator(TM), Chipmaker(TM), Ranger,(TM) and others are available in inch and metric over a full spectrum of sizes.

Another new Kennametal product making its IMTS introduction is the Y-TECH(TM) drill, with unique geometry designed for higher-quality holes in duplex stainless steel, titanium, Inconel®, and other hard-to-machine materials. Y-TECH(TM) is a three-margin drill featuring an uneven flute-to-flute design. Traditional symmetrical, two-cutting-edge, two-margin drills "walk" to some extent, producing a pendulum motion upon entering the workpiece. Y-TECH(TM)'s asymmetrical design creates an overriding, one-directional force directed against the guiding margin counterforce, maintaining diameter throughout the cut. Any latent forces are supported by two traditionally placed margins. Eliminating the pendulum motion not only improves hole quality, but also significantly reduces wear and tear on the tool.

"We have had customers report they have been able to eliminate a second machining step (reaming) to finish the hole due to the quality of hole produced by Y-TECH(TM)," says Chris Merlin MSSG product manager, solid-carbide drills.

On the milling side, the new Kennametal Z Plunge(TM) milling cutter is designed for aerospace, die and mold, and general engineering applications. With a unique design for increased chip evacuation that is superior for slotting operations, the new milling cutters can increase productivity by up to 30%.

Four cutting edges per insert offer good economy. Positive cutting geometries reduce cutting forces and provide for increased feed rates. Coolant is delivered thru interchangeable coolant nozzles available in nine different sizes to accommodate most machines. "These cutters offer improved performance at a reduced cost per cutting edge" according to Dennis McNamara, global product manager, milling.

Shops machining aluminum will want to see Kennametal's new Hanita AluSurf(TM) solid-carbide end mills, "the next generation for high-performance aluminum machining," says Steve Abrams, senior product manager. While machining aluminum is easy for most shops, the volume of material to be removed is usually very high. This means the time consumed from taking a block of material down to its final form is also high, while still requiring finishing passes. "Faster speeds and stronger machines enable tools to work better, but this usually comes at the expense of surface finish," Abrams says. "AluSurf(TM) end mills are designed to remove material at maximum rates and deliver surface finishes that can eliminate finish passes."

Kennametal Complete

Kennametal Complete is a service program unique among tooling providers. While tooling only accounts for about 3-5 percent of the cost of producing a typical metal part, it can have an enormous impact on overall production efficiency, quality, and cost. For this reason, the cutting tool business has begun to value application engineering and custom solutions development as corollaries to producing high-performance cutting tools.

"By looking beyond the cost of tooling and partnering with its clients, Kennametal is deploying its service capabilities to impact overall shop floor performance and costs by reducing machine cycle times, increasing productivity, improving repeatability, and enhancing service levels," says Paul Treml, global marketing manager, Kennametal Complete Services. "Kennametal Complete shows that Kennametal continues to significantly invest in the ability to effectively partner with customers to realize production savings in such areas as process optimization, new project engineering, and comprehensive onsite programs that extend beyond tooling, such as carbide recycling and supply-chain management. Such a supplier can bring extraordinary customer value while also significantly improving its own business."

For example, a shop's machines may often stand idle because tools are not on hand or need to be ordered. This can be remedied with Kennametal's ToolBOSS(TM) automated vending system. "Not only does ToolBOSS(TM) automated tool management software simplify and optimize inventory management, it can also capture, compare, and trend tooling costs associated with the part produced," says Celeste Buchberger, supply chain services specialist with Kennametal. "With this data, problem areas are easily identified for continuous-improvement efforts. These systems are also fully capable of automatically generating e-commerce replenishment orders that help minimize machine downtime."

Record Industry Savings

Earlier this year, Kennametal announced that as a result of customer-supplied comparison data, Kennametal customers around the world saved $169.5 million in the 11-month period ending June 30, 2008. "It's important to note these figures are based on actual trials for metalworking plants," says Steve Parker, Senior Staff Engineer, Global Customer Solutions at Kennametal. "While a major milestone, it represents only a fraction of the potential savings available to manufacturers worldwide."

IMTS visitors are urged to stop by Booth F-2060 and experience the savings potential for themselves. For more information, visit www.kennametal.com.

Kennametal Inc., Latrobe, PA; (800) 446-7738; www.kennametal.com

The new Beyond(TM) line from Kennametal makes its debut at IMTS 08.

Kennametal's new Y-TECH(TM) drill and its asymmetrical tip.

Z Plunge(TM) milling cutter.

Hanita AluSurf(TM) solid-carbide end mills.

ToolBOSS(TM) automated tool-management system.

For more information, contact:

Rudy Frank

Manager-Corporate Advertising and Marketing Communications

724/539-5330 or rudy.frank@kennametal.com

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