KADANT INC

Throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K, when we use the terms "we," "us," "our," "Registrant," and the "Company," we mean Kadant Inc., and its consolidated subsidiaries, taken as a whole, unless the context otherwise indicates. Kadant Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "KAI." Unless otherwise noted, references to 2025, 2024, and 2023 in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are to our fiscal years ended January 3, 2026, December 28, 2024, and December 30, 2023, respectively. Description of Our Business We are a global supplier of technologies and engineered systems that drive Sustainable Industrial Processing . Our products and services play an integral role in enhancing efficiency, optimizing energy utilization, and maximizing productivity in process industries while helping our customers advance their sustainability initiatives with products that reduce waste or generate more yield with fewer inputs, particularly fiber, energy, and water. Producing more while consuming less is a core aspect of Sustainable Industrial Processing and a major element of the strategic focus of our three reportable segments: Flow Control, Industrial Processing, and Material Handling. We have a long and well-established history of developing, manufacturing, and servicing a range of products and equipment used in process industries such as paper, packaging, and tissue; wood products; mining; metals; food processing; and recycling and waste management, among others. Some of our businesses or their predecessor companies have been in operation for more than 100 years.