Sep 7 2005
On every modern aircraft, up to one million holes must be drilled through advanced materials such as titanium, composites and other high performance alloys. Many of these holes require rework prior to final assembly, costing the aerospace and defense industry millions of dollars.
Kennametal Inc. and Novator AB began a rapid development program only 12 months ago to help address this problem. The two companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which lays out plans to continue development with customers and undertake a global go-to-market alliance.
Results of recent customer tests are expected to show reduced assembly time and cost of potentially up to 50 percent. Kennametal and Novator will present the new technologies at the EMO conference (leading metalworking trade fair) in Hannover, Germany later this month. The firms expect to announce details of the final agreement within the next 60 days.
Kennametal Inc. is a leading global supplier of tooling, engineered components and advanced materials consumed in production processes. The company improves customers' competitiveness by providing superior economic returns through the delivery of application knowledge and advanced technology to master the toughest of materials application demands. Companies producing everything from airframes to coal, from medical implants to oil wells and from turbochargers to motorcycle parts recognize Kennametal for extraordinary contributions to their value chains. Customers buy over $2 billion annually of Kennametal products and services-delivered by our 14,000 talented employees in over 60 countries -- with almost 50 percent of these revenues coming from outside the United States.
http://www.kennametal.com/