Case Study: Kennametal Inc achieves touchless procurement and strategic sourcing with SAP Ariba

Kennametal Transforming from a Tactical Sourcing to a Strategic Sourcing Organization

Kennametal, a global industrial machinery and components maker serving transportation, aerospace, earthworks and energy customers, faced a sourcing function that was effective but overly tactical and costly to operate. Heavy manual processing of purchase orders and invoices, plus fragmented commodity management, meant the company needed a touchless, integrated procurement approach that fit its existing SAP landscape.

Kennametal implemented SAP Ariba solutions (Contracts, Sourcing, Spend Analysis, Discovery, Catalog and the Ariba Network) to automate sourcing, improve supplier collaboration and embed analytics. The transformation cut manual PO/invoice processing from 85% to 15 (>80% touchless), reduced sourcing costs by about 25%, lowered resourcing needs by ~30% (redeploying staff to strategic work), and delivered roughly a 50% year‑over‑year increase in sourcing savings, positioning sourcing as a strategic enterprise partner.

Kennametal Inc

Tom McKee

Chief Information Officer