ANCA Celebrates 50th Anniversary

ANCA is celebrating its 50^th anniversary. Family, fulfillment and a fascination with technology are all said to be part of a formula that has led the company to producing CNC tool and cutter grinders for a half-century. 

In its time, the Australia-based global business says that it has sold over 10,000 five-axis CNC machines to over 2,500 customers. Additionally, around 1.1 billion tools are said to have been created using ANCA’s grinders. 

“You would be very unlikely to find any bit of advanced equipment, anywhere in the world, that hasn’t been touched by a cutting tool which has been manufactured on one of our machines,” says co-founder Pat Boland, whose company’s customers include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Iscar, Sandvik, Sutton Tools and others. 

Boland and Pat McCluskey — then an electrical engineer and an industrial electronics tradesman — met at a government-owned munitions factory in Melbourne in 1968. The two Pats started ANCA in 1974 in a spare room at Boland and wife Libby’s home. 

“It wasn’t about money in the beginning, and for me it’s not about money now … I get my kicks out of designing new machines,” says McCluskey. “Even before we started ANCA, Pat and I had always been driven by simply wanting to get machines to do things better. My enduring philosophy in business is if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten. New ideas and new thinking are the basis of our business.” 

ANCA’s CNC grinding machines are exported around the world, with 98% of its revenue being generated by exports. The ANCA Group also makes associated equipment and software, including robot arms, software and control systems, and offers automation services and technology to OEM machine builders. 

Taking part in the tool and cutter market — where nanometer-level details matter — means a re-investment of roughly a tenth of revenues back into R&D. 

A focus upon solving customer problems has enabled ANCA to contribute a collection of products to its industry, including the first probe for digitizing tools, first modem for support and diagnostics in a machine, first full and true 3D simulation of the grinding process and more. 

“In all my interactions, I’ve observed a consistent thread — our customers invariably share fond recollections of their encounters with ANCA dating back to the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s,” says Martin Ripple, CEO at ANCA since November 2022.  

Ripple says the company is driven by an involvement of family in the business, passion to drive the company forward and a commitment to providing customers with optimal products. This blend, according to Ripple, is a key factor in ANCA’s success and longevity.   

Edmund Boland, son of Pat and ANCA CNC Machines’ general manager, values ANCA’s agility as a privately owned company.

“ANCA has always endeavored to stay ahead of the curve, anticipating market trends and delivering cutting-edge solutions which enable our customers to thrive. With 50 years of innovation behind us, our product and technology portfolios are perfectly placed to meet the challenges of the future,” he says.

The delivery of technical and practical assistance has required a sharp focus on both vertical integration as well as trade and university-taught skillsets. ANCA has reportedly trained more than 60 apprentices and established its formal apprenticeship program in 2011. McCluskey wrote the course material.

To mark the occasion of ANCA’s 50th anniversary, the company is hosting a series of open houses, seminars, events and attending trade shows worldwide. Custom products and developments are at the center of the 50-year celebrations. 

At global tradeshows and ANCA Open House events, precision manufacturers can experience hardware and software for micro tool and gear tool manufacturing, edge preparation, closed-loop manufacturing and automation.  

“Our large and experienced group of engineers and developers is continuously presenting new solutions to meet customers’ needs. Highest quality tools and lowest cost per part are the guiding principles leading to groundbreaking, real-world innovations,” says Russell Riddiford. “Examples are our new MicroX CNC grinding machine, using nanometer control technology and ANCA Machine Intelligence to produce micro tools of unseen quality, or our AIMS system, the world's first and only autonomous system for tool manufacturing.”