Top-Notch Machining Solutions!

With its foundations going back to 1938, Kennametal has a history of providing one-stop solutions to its customers. Here is an overview of the company.

- Kruti Bharadva

In 1938, metallurgist Philip M. McKenna created a tungsten-titanium carbide alloy for cutting tools that provided a productivity breakthrough in the machining of steel. With his invention, Philip started the McKenna Metals Company in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Later renamed Kennametal, the corporation has become a world leader in the metalworking industry and is headquartered in Pittsburgh.

Kennametal’s journey in India commenced in 1964 when Widia India Private Limited was incorporated in Bengaluru with a strength of 30 employees and one shaping plant. Kennametal acquired Widia in 2003 and established Kennametal India Limited. Today, the company continues to be headquartered in Bengaluru with a modern manufacturing facility and offices in eight territories that serve customers across the length and the breadth of the region.

In a chat with The Machinist team, Vijaykrishnan Venkatesan, Managing Director, Kennametal India Ltd, described the journey of the company.

Take us through your business activities in terms of product portfolios and the sectors to which you cater.

Kennametal is an industrial technology leader in materials science, tooling and wear-resistant solutions for customers across the aerospace, earthworks, energy, general engineering and transportation industries. Our metal cutting segment is dedicated to delivering world-class metalworking solutions and services through our two trusted brands: Kennametal and WIDIA. Through these brands, we offer a complete portfolio of precision-engineered products and custom solution services. With an array of milling, turning, hole-making, threading and tooling systems products, backed by a skilled network of authorised distributor partners and spares support, our customers can find everything they need from one single source.