Kennametal Inc. announced that it has been named to this year’s InformationWeek 500, an annual listing of the nation’s most innovative users of business technology. The annual list was revealed last night at a gala awards ceremony at the exclusive InformationWeek 500 Conference which took place at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, Dana Point, Calif.

Kennametal was recognized for successfully implementing SAP 6.0 in an aggressive 15-month timeframe, standardizing processes in the more than 60 countries in which it operates. Since the implementation, the company has achieved six consecutive quarters of record financial performance, and now has greater visibility into data, assets and processes that are working well and can leverage those opportunities across the globe.

"Being named to the InformationWeek 500 is validation of the expertise and knowledge the Global IT team provides to our business partners across a variety of technology systems," commented Steven Hanna, Vice President, Chief Information Officer and Interim Chief Technology Officer. "Kennametal’s people are what set us apart from the competition and enable us to excel at delivering the best technology solutions available. Over a year into our SAP reimplementation, we are already adding substantial new functionality on top of our core processes and expect to make continuous improvements."

"The InformationWeek 500 has recognized the most innovative users of business technology for 24 years, and this year’s innovations were particularly impressive," said InformationWeek Editor In Chief Rob Preston. "What the editors looked for are unconventional approaches – new technologies, new models, new ways of grabbing business opportunities and solving complex business problems with IT."

InformationWeek identifies and honors the nation’s most innovative users of information technology with its annual 500 listing, and also tracks the technology, strategies, investments and administrative practices of America’s best-known companies. Past overall winners include PACCR Inc., The Vanguard Group, CME Group, National Semiconductor, Con-Way and the Principal Financial Group. The InformationWeek 500 rankings are unique among corporate rankings as it spotlights the power of innovation in information technology, rather than simply identifying the biggest IT spenders.