2021 ANCA Tool of the Year Award Open for Submissions

ANCA’s Tool of the Year Award is back, and the 2021 winners to be announced live at EMO, Milano. Submissions opened June 15 and close August 15. Last year, the industry welcomed the opportunity to show off their skills with almost 30 entries received from across the world which were seen by over 80,000 fans and generated over 200,000 engagements on social media.

According to Patrick Boland, cofounder at ANCA, the Tool of the Year contest is in its fourth year. He encourages cutting tool makers to enter for the chance to be recognized on a global stage.

There are two competition categories:

• The main prize goes to #MadeOnANCA tools and entrants will be judged on the form and performance of their cutting tool.
• The second category, for virtual tools, is “Most Innovative Tool Design — 2021.” Entrants are encouraged to be creative and use ANCA tool design software to push ideas to their limits. 

The winner of #MadeOnANCA will receive $10,000 worth of ANCA innovations for parts, accessories or software. The winner of the most innovative virtual tool will receive the full CIM software package.

2020’s #MadeOnANCA competition winner, Arch Cutting Tools, provided an entry that demonstrated excellent use of multiple iGrind operations with several complex profiles. Jeff Cederstrom, president of Arch Cutting Tools, said, “It is a humbling experience to be involved in a friendly competition with some of the world’s most innovative and technically advanced cutting tool manufacturers.” 

The competition will be based on the passion and the craft of tool making and celebrate our highly skilled tool grinding community, ANCA says.

Judging Panel

• Pat Boland, cofounder and managing director at ANCA
• Ivan Cuscov, plant director at Cerin SpA, Italy
• Thomson Mathew, product manager at ANCA
• Zoller – measure profile and diameter 

Tool of the Year Judging Criteria

The top five finalist will be judged based on

• Best surface finish in Ra (roughness average) value on the flute or gash surface
• Proximity to the nominal tolerance as stated on the drawing in terms of diameter and profile (that is, if the tolerance on diameter is +/- 0.010 mm and the tool is measured to 0.005, then this will rank favorably)
• Tightest tolerance on tool grinding as per the drawing (that is, the tool with the lowest tolerance will rank favorably)
• Level of complexity (that is, in terms of the number of steps, profiles will rank favorably)