Kadant Inc. (KAI)

Industrial processing machinery maker. Read November 8, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending January 3, 2026, filed March 3, 2026. Ranked 139 of the 275 Industrials companies read so far, by the share within reach now.

Kadant states about 3,900 full-time employees, half in North America, making flow control, industrial processing and material handling equipment and parts, read whole at the machinery manufacturing group.

The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.

What follows from the reading

Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 29% now, 35% at the end of 2027, 37% at the end of 2028, 38% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 38% desk work, 16% people work and 47% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 62% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 32% becomes checking a model's work and 5% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.

Headcount

3,900 employees as of January 3, 2026 (stated). About 50% of full-time employees are in North America, 30% in Europe and 15% in Asia; the United States is not stated apart from North America, so the share stays null with the regional figures here; the data service shows 62% of revenue in North America.

The filing: “As of January 3, 2026, we had approximately 3,900 full-time employees worldwide.”

The workforce as industry patterns

What the filing says about the workforce: About 3,900 full-time employees, 50% in North America, 30% in Europe, 15% in Asia; other than certain Canadian employees and works councils outside the U.S., none represented by unions; apprenticeship and vocational school partnerships; fiscal year ends the Saturday nearest December 31.

Companies read with the same leading pattern

Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Machinery Manufacturing (3331, 3332, 3334, and 3339 only), largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.

• Caterpillar Inc. (CAT, 118,000 employees)29% now, 39% by 2028
• Deere & Company (DE, 73,100 employees)30% now, 39% by 2028
• Parker-Hannifin Corporation (PH, 59,850 employees)30% now, 40% by 2028
• Carrier Global Corporation (CARR, 47,000 employees)29% now, 37% by 2028
• Trane Technologies plc (TT, 44,000 employees)27% now, 34% by 2028
• Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (SWK, 43,500 employees)29% now, 36% by 2028
• Illinois Tool Works Inc. (ITW, 43,000 employees)30% now, 39% by 2028
• Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT, 36,500 employees)29% now, 37% by 2028

What the filing says about AI

1 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing's one AI sentence is a competitive risk factor: larger competitors may adapt more quickly to emerging technologies such as factory digitalization, the industrial internet of things, smart technology and AI.

• “As a result, they may be able to adapt more quickly to new or emerging technologies, such as those related to factory digitalization, the industrial internet of things, smart technology and artificial intelligence, and changes in customer requirements, or to devote greater resources to the promotion and sale of their services and products.”

Its annual reports, year by year

Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector

• Fiscal 20210median 0
• Fiscal 20220median 0
• Fiscal 20231median 1
• Fiscal 20241median 4
• Fiscal 20251median 10

Headcount by filing year

As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.

Limits of this reading

• The U.S. share is not stated apart from North America.

Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0000886346-26-000018, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.