Kennametal Masters the Changes that Shape the
Future of Manufacturing
Kennametal’s Modernization Journey: Two Decades of Partnership
Kennametal has been a global leader for more than 100 years in the manufacturing of earth cutting, metal cutting, and ultra-wear-resistant technologies, serving the aerospace and defense, earthworks, energy, general industrial, and transportation industries. From metal powders they create super-hardened cutting tools and specialized wear-resistant implements used by manufacturers around the world. Former Kennametal CIO, Tom McKee, says, “As a consumer of all these end-use products, we may be the biggest company that you never see.” Not only a market leader with their products, Kennametal also leads the industry through the continual modernization of their enterprise. Our nearly two-decade strategic partnership has helped Kennametal to traverse industry changes year after year, evolve & transform, and master the innovations that shape the future of manufacturing.
Digital Customer Experience
In the early 2000s, when B2B commerce emerged as a major trend, Kennametal was an early leader in their industry, enabling their sales teams and channel partners with digital tools for guided selling, ordering and self-service interactions. Kennametal first partnered with elogic to provide SAP configuration work and launch Kennametal’s eCommerce portal.
Age of The Customer
This era called for organizations to move from a product-centric mindset and adopt a customer-centric engagement model. Kennametal strategically locked on a two-platform approach to run their Enterprise: SAP as their core ERP system, and Microsoft as their system of engagement. Kennametal was one of the first major organizations to adopt Microsoft Office 365, and then launched Dynamics 365 Sales globally to thousands of sales reps, integrated into SAP. Read their Sales Modernization story here.
Industry 4.0
This ongoing 4th industrial revolution transforms manufacturing systems to utilize the latest technology. in 2018, Kennametal initiated a $300m capitalization program to automate & modernize the manufacturing process in all major business lines and plants across 4 pillars: Organization Development, Factory Automation, Operational Excellence, and Systems Integration. The solution included SAP optimization to set the data foundation and resulted in shop-floor to top-floor analytics. Read their Factory Modernization story here.
Cloud Technologies
Kennametal has invested heavily in Microsoft cloud technologies to reduce costs, increase productivity, and empower workers to deliver superior results for Kennametal customers. When it came time for the company to migrate its it infrastructure to the cloud, Kennametal chose Azure. Kennametal’s migration to Azure was a three-year journey with the final phase encompassing their SAP estate. Kennametal now has the cloud foundation in Azure and SAP to embrace the transformation opportunities provided by S/4HANA. Read their SAP Modernization story here.
