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The 'ship' of profit

The hardest ship to float, it's said, is a partnership. Maybe so, but tool-manufacturing giants Sandvik Coromant and Kennametal have fashioned a partnership that will sail them straight toward new levels of profitability and customer satisfaction.

The companies recently announced they would license their quick-change and modular tooling systems to each other. Now their customers have the option to use either Kennametal's KM tooling or Sandvik Coromant's Capto system as they see fit.

Kennametal's nine-year-old tooling system is a round, centerline system designed for use on both machining centers and NC lathes. Sandvik Coromant's Capto system, introduced in 1990, is based on a tapered-polygon shank-and-face contact for rigidity and repeatability. Both systems can be used in either static or rotating applications.

Since both systems are market winners individually, the companies anticipate even greater market success through this agreement.

"It is significant that the world's two largest tooling manufacturers can cooperate on such a project for the benefit of customers throughout the world," says Sandvik Coromant president Lars Petersson.

Ditto, says Kennametal president and CEO Robert L McGeehan. "Our customers have proved that these two toolholding systems are most effective in boosting manufacturers' productivity worldwide," he adds. "Through these agreements with Sandvik Coromant, we will make both systems readily available, helping more customers around the globe enjoy their benefits."

That last phrase of McGeehan's statement is especially significant. What moved the companies toward a partnership was, first and foremost, service to customers. In formally announcing the agreement, Sandvik Coromant declared that this sharing of technology enhances "customers' freedom of choice by reducing their dependence on any one quick-change tooling supplier without compromising quality or performance."

Other metalworking businesses, large and small, should take note. Putting the customer's needs first sometimes means thinking "outside the box" of traditional market-share theories and practices. If teaming with the guy down the street is good for the customer, then it's ultimately going to be good for every supplier.

It is indeed difficult to launch a partnership--particularly in the often choppy waters of business. Sandvik Coromant and Kennametal are to be applauded for weighing anchor together in the marketplace.

Joseph F McKenna

Editor
email: jmckenna@metlfax.com