Into its fifth year, ANCA's industry-first competition launches for 2022 at the first-ever GrindingHub – the new industry meeting place for grinding technology in Stuttgart, Germany. In the ‘Oscars’ of the Cutting Tool industry, participants and winners achieve important brand recognition as well as cash and other prizes. Last year the awards achieved a total digital audience reach of 8.1 million readers via the media with 37 global entries seen by over 202,480 fans generating over 200,000 engagements on social media.
ANCA CNC Machines has announced the Tool of the Year 2022 competition where customers can submit their favorite tool after which the winners are judged and announced live at IMTS. There will be two competition categories to recognize both the functionality and creativity of cutting tool manufacturers. The #MadeonANCA tools will be the first category where entrants will be judged on the form and performance of their cutting tool. The second category is for virtual tools as the 'Most innovative tool design'. In this, the entrants are encouraged to be creative and use ANCA tool design software to push ideas to their limits.
In the competition, the winner of #MadeonANCA receives $10,000 AUD worth of ANCA innovations for parts, accessories, or software that fit one’s grinding needs or a trip to ANCA's headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. Along with this the winner also wins access for an ANCA VIP to exclusive opportunities with their ANCA experts. The winner of the most innovative virtual tool will receive the full CIM software package.
Patrick Boland the Co-Founder of ANCA commented saying, “Every year brings yet another step change in technology that enables cutting tool makers to increase their sophistication in designing and manufacturing products. This year we bring our ANCA Integrated Manufacturing System (AIMS) to GrindingHub, a huge leap in technology to create the factory of the future which will be efficient, automated, and operating 24/7, the AIMS factory uses modular programs scripts, remote access, and cutting-edge machines to operate at maximum efficiency."
The criteria for the top five finalist tools at IMTS include the best surface finish in RA (roughness average), the value on the flute or gash surface, and the tool that is closest to the nominal tolerance as stated on the drawing in terms of diameter and profile (that is if the tolerance on diameter is +/- 0.010mm and the tool is measured to 0.005 then this will rank favorably), a tool that has been ground to the tightest tolerance as per the drawing (i.e. the tool with the lowest tolerance will rank favorably), and the level of complexity (that is in terms of the number of steps, profiles will rank favorably).
John Saunders who is the first-time judge said, "Seeing the creative use of custom tooling is amazing. Being able to reduce setups, improve cycle time, or even eliminate tools with the use of modern, custom carbide is something all shops should consider. It's an honor to be part of this competition and I hope it can help raise awareness about the benefits of a well-designed and executed cutting tool.”
The competition will be based on the passion and the craft of tool making and celebrate our highly skilled tool grinding community. The judging panel will include, Patrick Boland, John Saunders of Saunders Machine Works, and founder of YouTube channel NYC CNC, Xiaoyu Wang the Product Manager at ANCA, Santosh Plakkat the product Manager at ANCA, Darren Fox the Product Manager at ANCA and Zoller as the measure profile and diameter.
