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Kennametal posting corporate losses, US plant closing

I doubt it's all Covid, just a convenient excuse. Like all US businesses their goal is to become US based after closing all US plants and shipping them over seas and gutting themselves to boost their shares so the CEO's can get their big fat bonus's while the little guys are left drowning in shit.
 
Was talking with a tooling distributor about this the other day. He seemed to think Kennametal was in tough shape long before Covid.
 
Was talking with a tooling distributor about this the other day. He seemed to think Kennametal was in tough shape long before Covid.


Yes, they have been for a while. Their milk cow is the mining industry, so no one's holding their breath on the metal-cutting side of it.
 
Kennametal an interesting company.
At one time basically a family owned and one could go to Latrobe and go putting for dollars with famous owner of the local golf course and the McKennas would be there shooting the shit and real people.
Then came the 80s, corporate and wall street money along with a rising player named Sandvik.
Just the same as with Iscar few thought this a real enemy or threat when sitting king of the hill. ("Really,.. Iscar, it's a little podunck shop across the pond")
I only takes a few bad CEOS or sales mangers to make a total mess of a big and successful company.
Once the king of the world in carbide and tech, now lives mostly on it's name.
Bob
 
Kennametal has been dying for some time. I work with different members of Kennametal and Widia. A year and a half ago they let a LOT of people go. A month ago a bunch of the Widia guys got cut. I saw this come up on my industrial news site and it surprised me.... that they still had USA based plants to close!!! Why they are doing so poorly is beyond me they have crazy name recognition that people still look to even though a lot of their tools have been passed up. (they still have a lot of good stuff don't get me wrong) but you pay for it!

With different conversations and things heard over the years. I think Kennametal corporate was pretty rough as CEO's came and upper management frequently changed hands....

I am sure Exkenna has insight on this.
 
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It would certainly help with buying tools from Kennametal if their online catalog was easier to use. As it is, it's like trying to find Waldo in a braille edition.
 
It would certainly help with buying tools from Kennametal if their online catalog was easier to use. As it is, it's like trying to find Waldo in a braille edition.
That's no shit, and it's not just them.

I doubt it's all Covid, just a convenient excuse. Like all US businesses their goal is to become US based after closing all US plants and shipping them over seas and gutting themselves to boost their shares so the CEO's can get their big fat bonus's while the little guys are left drowning in shit.

You can lay some of that blame on the Dodge Brothers and their supreme court case saying that the profits must go to the shareholders before the employees.
 
That's no shit, and it's not just them.

This is why a good tooling guy is worthwhile.

If I can find exactly what I want, I email and ask for a quote.

If I can't, I give him the specifics of what I want, and tell him to source it for me. Sometimes he brings me 4 different vendors with competing prices and lead times, etc.

He's worth every penny I pay him. Which directly, is zero pennies :D
 
This is why a good tooling guy is worthwhile.

If I can find exactly what I want, I email and ask for a quote.

If I can't, I give him the specifics of what I want, and tell him to source it for me. Sometimes he brings me 4 different vendors with competing prices and lead times, etc.

He's worth every penny I pay him. Which directly, is zero pennies :D

I approve this message!
 
Seems to me that just about every other week another American manufacturing/supply company goes away entirely or gets absorbed and the new buyer sucks the life blood out of a good name.
In the last few years I have seen just too many respectable company's get bought up to milk the name for all it's worth, then second and even third level crap gets branded with the reputable old name.
There's a fine line between a decent profit and maintaining quality, unfortunately CEO's CFO'S and the rest of the jokers seen to have a hard time understanding this.
 
Seems to me that just about every other week another American manufacturing/supply company goes away entirely or gets absorbed and the new buyer sucks the life blood out of a good name.
In the last few years I have seen just too many respectable company's get bought up to milk the name for all it's worth, then second and even third level crap gets branded with the reputable old name.
There's a fine line between a decent profit and maintaining quality, unfortunately CEO's CFO'S and the rest of the jokers seen to have a hard time understanding this.

If someone offers you more than you can, in good faith, expect to make then you sell.

Sure, pride may keep some companies from selling out but pride also kills companies.

Businesses are often sold on multiples of EBITDA, think of it as gross pay, with a varying range.

So I ask- if I offered to give you 5yrs gross salary for your name and time card at XYZ shop with no further liabilities would you:

A) refuse
B) give me your timecard and start over tomorrow with 5yrs salary in the bank?
B.2) give me your timecard and retire.
 
This is why a good tooling guy is worthwhile.

Sure, but what happens when you really like the product but their rep sucks? Or even worse, that awesome rep who caries all of the B-team brands?

The relationship based sales model is dying. Intentionally obfuscating everything is only prolonging the change, and sealing the fate of some companies that are being left behind.

It's the year 2020 damnit. I should be able to purchase whatever I want at 12:30AM, from the comfort of my own home, while nursing a beer buzz.

Seriously though, I appreciate the value of a good sales person - I just think it is catastrophic for these companies to have business models that hinge on them.
 
Kennametal made decent stuff and USA buyers chose to buy other...USA manufacturing in the dumpster...

When there are no USA jobs who you gonna call...ghost busters.

I'll counter this with KM rested on their laurels way too long while everybody else out-innovated them.

The only places Kennametal sell tools are in the handful of big buyers that have been entrenched with KM forever. Everyone else shops around for better performance or better value, and the answer is rarely KM.
 
It would certainly help with buying tools from Kennametal if their online catalog was easier to use. As it is, it's like trying to find Waldo in a braille edition.

1000 times this. I think some companies intentionally do this so you have to talk to their sales guy. Which I refuse to do, either give me a simple straightforward catalog or I'll go somewhere else.
 








 
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