Lena Risse presented with ANCA’s inaugural Female Machinist of the Year awardANCA’s Tool of the Year Awards marked its sixth year with a record attendance of hundreds of industry professionals at the awards ceremony, at which the German cutting tool manufacturer Emuge-Franken took first prize for its multi-functional carbide tool; this was infused with ceramic material to ensure ‘extended tool life and unparalleled performance. Meanwhile, JG Group from Poland secured first place in the ‘Virtual Tool’ category (for the second consecutive year) with a simulation of a Dachshund dog that used 24 profiles to create the head alone.
Furthermore, this year’s awards, held a special significance, as ANCA announced Lena Risse from
Risse Tool Technology GmbH as the winner of the inaugural Female Machinist of the Year award. This initiative aims to promote diversity in the cutting-tool industry and provide positive role models for women and girls considering careers in this sector.
ANCA’s co-founder Pat Boland said: “This year has been marked by exceptional enthusiasm, boasting an impressive array of entries, and showing a remarkable complexity in the design of both real and simulated tools; and while the competition was fierce, Emuge-Franken truly set itself apart. The company’s combination of ceramic materials and tungsten carbide posed a significant manufacturing challenge, and effectively extended the performance and lifespan of the cutting tool.”
Exceptional precision He continued: “Using ANCA’s iGrind to its fullest, this tool makes the most of the profile software’s flexibility, employing layers and segments to assign operations efficiently. Demonstrating exceptional precision in profile measurements and 3-D edge radius measurements, the tool closely aligns with its intended specifications and stands out for its accuracy.
“JG Group’s whimsical ‘sausage dog’ entry added a delightful touch to the competition, underscoring the remarkable flexibility of our software and the impressive results that can be achieved when blending creativity and expertise. However, we were honoured to introduce the inaugural ‘Female Machinist’ category, as recognising women who are choosing to enter our industry is paramount, and we extend our heartfelt congratulations to Lena, the deserving winner of this historic category.”
Diether Ahrens, Emuge-Franken’s head of business unit, said: “ANCA and Emuge-Franken have a long-standing technology partnership that has enabled us to continuously be innovative. Our team designed and ground an outstanding competition milling cutter based on the new Franken Cera-Cut line. It offers outstanding capabilities and appearance, and thus a bit of our DNA for innovative special and standard tools for milling.”