On January 14, 2013, Kennametal received the Excellent Supplier Performance Award from Parker Hannifin honouring the company for innovative engagement in process optimisation. This award recognized two successful co-engineering projects between Kennametal Deutschland GmbH and Parker Hannifin, Pump & Motor Division Chemnitz, which resulted in savings of roughly $80,000 for the customer.

Focused on sharing knowledge and expertise to ultimately improve customers' processes, Kennametal engineers helped realize process time reduction in turning operations on low alloy manganese steel. A capacity of 680 machine hours was set free and is now used to increase production for soft machining of gears. On top of that, the consumption of tools was reduced, significantly decreasing tooling expenses.

In addition, Kennametal helped increase the life time of cutting inserts on machine centers and cast iron housings for gear pumps. The milling tools were optimized, saving 85 machine hours and decreasing the frequency of cutting insert exchanges by 50 per cent.

Both projects were implemented in 2011, based on Parker Hannifin's PCI (Process of Continuous Improvement) initiative which is part of the long-term-agreements Parker Hannifin has with suppliers on a global basis, and process stability was monitored and measured throughout 2012. Once cost savings were measured and confirmed, Parker Hannifin presented the award to Kennametal for supplier excellence. Just another example of how Kennametal is committed to delivering on their promise to make their customers more competitive every day.

The award was presented on January 14, 2013 by Parker Hannifin Pump & Motor Division Europe in Chemnitz, including Mr Marcus Arnold, Leader for Tools and Indirect Materials; Mrs Nadja Groschupf, Sourcing and Procurement Manager and Mr Ludwig Gobsch, Manager Manufacturing Technology/Lean. Mr Wolfgang Haehnel, Application Specialist and Mr. Manfred Seliger, Sales Manager General Engineering East Germany represented Kennametal Deutschland GmbH in this awards ceremony and thanked Parker Hannifin for this outstanding recognition.

Special thanks was expressed to Kennametal's Sales Manager General Engineering, Manfred Seliger (not on photo), and Kennametal?s Application Specialist, Wolfgang Haehnel (right), as well as the Parker Process Engineers, Sabine Kunze (middle) for Gear Manufacturing and Peter Steinke (left) for Cast Iron Machining Centers

Celebrating its 75th year as an industrial technology leader, Kennametal Inc., delivers productivity to customers seeking peak performance in demanding environments. The company provides innovative wear-resistant products and application engineering backed by advanced material science, serving customers in 60 countries across diverse sectors of aerospace, earthworks, energy, industrial production, transportation and infrastructure.

Satish S Melinamani, Kennametal India Limited, Bangalore. Tel: 080-43281203. Mobile: 096201-67837. Email: satish.melinamani@widia.com