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Kennametal Expands Conforma Clad Operations; Adds New President

Kennametal Inc. has announced a $5 million investment in the continued expansion of its Conforma Clad business.
Kennametal Expands Conforma Clad Operations; Adds New President
September 7, 2006

Conforma Clad, through its proprietary wear and protection cladding and its access to international customers through Kennametal’s global presence, has increased sales by nearly 40% in the last two years and expects to double over the next 3-5 years. This capital investment will be used to expand into a second building, purchase additional equipment and hire an expected 40 additional associates over the next year at Conforma Clad’s New Albany, Indiana plant. In addition, Colleen Cordova has been named the new President of Conforma Clad. She will lead and direct all operations of this business and take Conforma Clad to its next level of growth and development.

“This expansion directly supports our corporate strategy to grow our advanced materials business organically as well as through acquisitions,” commented Jim Breisinger, Kennametal Vice President and President Advanced Components Group.

“The decision to expand at the New Albany location was based on the productivity of our Conforma Clad team and the growing demand in the market for their customer focused solutions for wear and corrosion. This expansion will better position us to capture that market share and expand into new markets,” Breisinger continued.

“We want to recognize the role of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and the City of New Albany in influencing our decision to expand at our current location rather than investing at locations in other states where Kennametal has operations. Their support and involvement were significant factors in our decision making process,” said Breisinger.

Colleen Cordova

“We are also very pleased to welcome Colleen Cordova as our new President of Conforma Clad,” he continued.  “With over twenty years of experience in global marketing and business development and a proven track record in driving global business growth, we are confident that Colleen and the senior team at Conforma Clad will take the company to the next level of performance and beyond.

Colleen holds a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Old Dominion University, a master of science degree in chemical engineering from Virginia Tech and a master of business administration degree from the University of Richmond. She also holds five AlliedSignal, Inc. patents within the fiber and polymer industry,” Breisinger concluded.

Conforma Clad is a high value industrial wear protection solution provider that uses its sophisticated proprietary cladding to make critical components last longer and hold critical tolerances, so that systems and processes have less downtime, lower maintenance costs, higher productivity and higher quality.

Working closely with industry leaders, its markets include oil and gas drilling; coal-fired power plants; extrusion of engineered plastics, pet food and aquafeed; processing of sand into glass, and other industrial processing of abrasive and erosive materials.

From its plant in New Albany, Conforma Clad ships its products to customers throughout Europe and in Russia; to China, Japan, India, and throughout Asia; to South Africa, Chile, and numerous other countries.

For more information, see www.conformaclad.com