August 23, 2000 - Kalyani Carpenter, a joint venture between Kalyani Steels Ltd., India, and Carpenter Technology Corp., USA, has opened its first steel service center in the Pune District to provide rapid delivery of stock anywhere throughout India.

The newly opened warehouse has 22,000 square feet of fully enclosed space with enough rack capacity to hold in excess of 1,000 metric tons of inventory in the alloys, forms and sizes most commonly required by customers.

All material stocked in the new service center will be made either by Kalyani Carpenter Special Steels Ltd., or by its American partner, Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS), headquartered in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.

Kalyani Steels, Ltd., which just celebrated its 25th anniversary, is a well known, major producer of high quality carbon and alloy steels, with a production capacity of more than 80,000 metric tons per year. Carpenter is a global leader in the development, manufacture and distribution of high performance specialty metals, many of which are used in high technology applications.

Kalyani Carpenter plans to carry a full range of stock in the service center inventory, including locally manufactured cold- and hot-work tool steels, wrought high-speed steels, valve steels and stainless steels.

It also will stock a variety of specialty metals made by Carpenter, including powder high speed steels, high temperature alloys, magnetic alloys, controlled expansion alloys and advanced tooling materials as needed by its Indian customers.

The company says it will soon manufacture and carry in service center inventory a number of specialty tool steels and alloys that are made by electroslag remelting.

"Our objective in opening this service center," observed Stewart Dunford, president of Kalyani Carpenter Metal Centres, Ltd., "is to enable our customers to buy alloys from a known quality source in whatever quantities they need at the moment.

"One call to Kalyani Carpenter Metal Centres is all that is needed to order small quantities from stock, or larger quantities from either the Kalyani Carpenter Special Steels or the Carpenter Technology mills. We believe this combination is unique in India, as opposed to the larger orders required when purchasing directly from the steel mill."

Noting that there is no comparable, producer-owned steel warehouse system in India, Dunford said, "Our new service center is fully equipped with materials handling equipment, storage racks and cut-off saws to cut stock to required length and deliver just in time to customer specifications."

Dunford also suggested that the steel user will benefit from the knowledge that all stock from the service center comes from the same source, made to the same, consistent quality standards. This, he explained, means that a product like stainless steel machining bar will machine the same every time it is ordered.

"We also will be in a position to help some customers save the considerable expense of inventory," Dunford added. "If warranted by volume requirements, we will work with customers to set up a customized, long term inventory program based on needed alloys, sizes, lengths and tolerances."

The Pune-area service center is the first of several that Kalyani Carpenter plans to open in India. The company is considering a location in the New Delhi area in northern India, and in southern India to serve customer needs in the Bangalore and Chennai areas.

Carpenter Technology last year entered into a joint venture with Kalyani Special Steels, Ltd., establishing Kalyani Carpenter Special Steels, Ltd., the manufacturer, and Kalyani Carpenter Metal Centres, Ltd., the entity responsible for sales, marketing and distribution of licensed products. As part of the agreement, Carpenter is licensing and transferring its technology for producing specialty steels to the Kalyani manufacturing joint venture.

A forklift operator moving tool steel into racks at the new Kalyani Carpenter Metal Centre Ltd.