Quality Technician - Entry

About Kennametal

With over 80 years as an industrial technology leader, Kennametal Inc. delivers productivity to customers through materials science, tooling and wear‑resistant solutions. Customers across aerospace and defense, earthworks, energy, general engineering and transportation turn to Kennametal to help them manufacture with precision and efficiency. Every day approximately 8,700 employees are helping customers in nearly 100 countries stay competitive. Kennametal generated $2.1 billion in revenues in fiscal 2023.

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Job Title: Quality Technician Location: La Vergne, TN

Shift: 2nd, Monday – Friday, 3pm – 11pm

This position will cover job functions for the quality department on the manufacturing floor performing metallurgical, dimensional, & visual certification inspections and process audits.

• Perform metallurgical, dimensional, and visual inspection for customer certification orders or quality critical inspection requirements utilizing gauges and lab equipment.
• Conduct both nondestructive and destructive examinations and quality control (QC) inspections on products, materials, components, parts, etc. at various stages of the production process to ensure compliance with established quality standards.
• Record results of inspections as required.
• Analyze internal microstructure of a product to determine grain uniformity, porosity, anomalies, or contamination to certify or non‑conform furnace heats.
• Complete product & process audits as defined by the quality department.
• Support the quality and quality engineering (QE) functions.
• Understand and meet scrap and complaint reduction goals, while contributing to RCCA/CAPA.
• Write and revise metallurgical and dimensional lab procedures and standard work instructions.
• Perform Operator Preventive Maintenance (PM) and Cleaning, Lubrication, Inspection (CLI).
• Captures and analyzes statistical data from processes to confirm compliance with established standards or identify deviations from standards.
• May include in process inspections of inserts, physical properties inspections.
• May include customer certification inspections as required using defined inspection equipment including but not limited to manual gages, OGP and Keyence vision systems. This may also include sorting and rework when deemed necessary by the Quality department to support on‑time product shipment to customers.
• SAP transaction assistance to support quality operations may be required. Examples include transactions associated with the MRB process and purchase orders for outside services such as sorting, calibration, etc.

• Daily work is determined by structure and needs of the Quality group. Additional tasks may include assistance with material handling (material transfer, fixture loading, physical scrap of material, etc.)

• Performs specialized technical tasks required to support operations (e.g., product inspection, research support, skilled trade).
• Must be able to understand the concepts of grain flow, microstructure, and physical property testing.
• Must be able to identify physical properties and microstructure issues with powder test samples and production inserts.
• Must be able to determine the insert type to properly evaluate to grade specifications to determine disposition of in‑process or finished product. Out of specification features will be reviewed with Corporate Grade Champion.
• Must have a base knowledge of SAP or aptitude to be trained in the application.

• Must be able to interpret process documents and audit processes to requirements, openly communicating findings.

• Must have a High School Diploma or GED.

• Must have good written and verbal communication skills.
• Must be able to use required computer software including but not limited to SAP, Microsoft Office (Excel, Power Point, Word).
• 3–5 years of experience required.
• Requires vocational training or equivalent industry experience.
• Must be able to properly use gages and measurement devices that determine compliance to drawing and…