Buffett delves into manufacturing

Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., paid a somewhat surprise visit to the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago. He met and toured the tradeshow with executives from Iscar Metals Inc. then spoke to a small gathering of editors from several trade publications. Berkshire Hathaway recently acquired 80 percent of Iscar, a cutting tool manufacturer headquartered in Tefan, Israel, in a $5 billion transaction.
According to Buffett, Iscar fits the Berkshire Hathaway mold because it is doing something fundamentally important. "We look for unusually good businesses run by unusually good people, and Iscar is just that," he said.
Buffett admitted that he was not as familiar with the metal cutting and machine tool industry as he would like to be, but he conveyed confidence in Iscar's future growth and success based on the research his company did.