“We are so confident of the local market that we are investigating the possibility of opening a local manufacturing plant. For some time we have wanted to have a permanent presence in South Africa but only now has the opportunity arisen,” concluded H K Song.

“YG-1 also develops its own coatings for its products, which includes diamond, PVD and CVD coating. Currently they have just over 50 coating machines in the manufacturing plants and aim to double this number by 2020.”

Range of inserts “Although the company is very strong in tapping, drilling and threading, what is not commonly known in South Africa is that YG-1 manufacture and supply a vast range of turning and milling inserts. The company has spent over $US 100 million in this area of development over the last five years and recently inaugurated another dedicated plant in Chungju, Korea to manufacture carbide inserts, including end mills.”

Recent internal testing with the new Harvi Ultra helical milling platform achieved over 100 minutes of tool life running at 47m/min with a 0.12mm/tooth chip load. The radial depth of cut was 25mm and the axial depth of cut was 76mm.

Image

The grade has an advance cobalt binder that provides exceptional thermal fatigue resistance, without sacrificing the toughness customers have experienced with KC725M or X500. In addition, Kennametal’s proprietary AlTiN/TiN coating enhances the wear resistance at the cutting edge.

“We are targeting to equip as many machines as possible with our vast range of products covering HSS, milling, drilling, turning, threading as well as boring. The YG-1 company was established in 1982 and has been growing as a leading global manufacturer in the cutting tool industry. YG-1 operates its global business through nine overseas production sites including the United States, Ireland, South Korea and China, has 30 sales subsidiaries and has a presence in 75 countries.”

“The edge condition on the KCSM40 grade still looked great. And we are getting many other fantastic results. In one face-milling operation on a hardened steel wear plate, the number of passes was reduced from 234 to just 22,” said Etling.

The target cutting speed for KCSM40 in Ti6Al4V was 53m/min at 327cm3/min 327 metal removal rate for 60 minutes. Not only does KCSM40 achieve this, but has also offered milling titanium at speeds up to 85m/min at a lower radial depth of cut.

“More recently the company has set up a production facility in India and expanded its production and R&D facilities in Korea where it is regarded as the number one cutting tool manufacturer in that country and now among the top five in the world.”

“The products find applications across industries, such as aerospace, die and mould, automobile, oil and gas, power, electronics, general engineering and medical equipment. We will be holding a sizeable amount of products and stock to cover all these fields of metal cutting. In fact clients will now be exposed to a greater array of YG-1 products, which they were not in the past.”

“We are positive about the South African market and are expecting a major growth in the region now that we have a dedicated team of sales and management staff that are operating as a fully functional subsidiary. The South African staff will have access to all of the technical know-how and developments at the South Korean headquarters, as do their colleagues around the world,” said H K Song, Founder and Chairman of YG-1.

Kennametal has responded to requests for a new carbide grade to machine titanium 6Al4V at higher cutting speeds, rather than increasing feed rates or increasing depth of cuts that result in increased cutting forces on the workpiece, fixtures and machine spindles.

Says “At higher radial engagements, the insert is cutting the material for longer time which creates more heat at the cutting zone. The heat will not go into the titanium chips, like when milling steels, so controlling the heat is critical. Lower cutter speeds at higher radial engagements is a good practice. At lower radial engagements, higher cutting speeds can be achieved,” said Scott Etling, director of global product management for Indexable Milling at Kennametal.

“Machining is now becoming increasingly advanced with machine tool builders manufacturing more sophisticated machines with higher speeds and accuracy. We as YG-1 have to keep up with the technological advancement in the metal cutting field. To this end YG-1 has two R&D centres operating in South Korea, one in Songdo and another in Chungju.”

Image

Image

Called KCSM40, the company has taken the toughness of its most popular milling grades KC725M and X500, and increased the thermal crack resistance and wear resistance that will enable customers to machine at higher cutting speeds, without sacrificing that original toughness.

South Korean-based company engaged in the manufacture and distribution of cutting tools also investigating the possibility of opening a local manufacturing plant.

“This is just the beginning of a journey. YG-1 has an established name in South Africa and we intend to grow that reputation and increase our market share in HSS tooling and carbide cutting tools. The local metal working industry will now be able to benefit from having a dedicated team that will only concentrate on supplying YG-1 products to a broad spectrum of engineering companies,” said Hockly who set up the company in October 2017.

“We have more than 5 000 employees working globally across various functions of R&D, production, sales and marketing, supply chain, finance and human resources.”

YG-1, whose cutting tools have been widely distributed in South Africa for many years, has decided to open up a subsidiary in South Africa. The South African subsidiary company – YG-1 South Africa Pty Ltd – is based in the Brentwood Park, Benoni area of Gauteng and is headed up by Lance Hockly, who has been in the cutting tool industry for a number of years.

For more information contact Kennametal South Africa on TEL: 011 748 9300 or visit www.kennametal.com