E-Sharp News October 2022

Pat Boland and Pat McCluskey co-founded ANCA in 1974 and their many achievements and business successes were recognised in these Victorian Government Manufacturing Hall of Fame 2022 awards. The inspiring pioneers have made significant contributions to driving new developments in CNC grinding technology, always surprising and delighting the precision cutting tool market with their latest innovation.
 
ANCA started in Pat Boland’s bedroom in Melbourne with the purchase of a $4000 mini- computer to turn their passion into a business venture. Considered mini or small for the time, it was in fact as tall as them at a cost in ’74 that could buy an inner-city apartment. Today, ANCA is for many a supplier of choice, employing more than 1200 people who are constantly innovating and finding better ways. The business has a long heritage of technical breakthroughs, investing over 10% in research and development each year to ensure their products exceed the needs of their customers in over 45 countries.
The Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame Awards celebrate the vital role of local manufacturing and exceptional manufacturers across the state. ANCA’s global headquarters remain in Melbourne, Australia and the company has gone global with offices in the UK, Germany, China, Thailand, India, Japan, Brazil and the USA as well as a comprehensive worldwide network of representatives and agents.

The two Pats are 'advanced manufacturing heroes' who continue to make an invaluable contribution to the precision cutting tool industry. Their latest product to hit the market, the MX7 Ultra instantly attracted market attention with its capabilities of manufacturing cutting tools of the highest accuracy and quality with a new nanometre control system and servo control algorithm for smooth motion. Their delivery of world-leading technology for over four decades continues to inspire many both inside of and outside of their company.
Where did ANCA start? Turning a dream into success

The enduring partnership of this dynamic duo is due to their complementary skill sets. Nuts-and-bolts practicality on one side, and academic, computational skills on the other. The result - is a recipe for success.
Pat McCluskey is an award-winning technician trained in the state-of-the-art machine tools and Pat Boland is an Electrical Engineer with a First degree from renowned Melbourne University. They had a shared passion for building machines and a conviction they could do better than the numerical control (NC) equipment they were working with.

Pat Boland said: “When ANCA started we were obviously just a local company working in Melbourne, today, we are really deeply multinational.”

The importance of software, a global outlook, and supplying a highly specialised niche product have been key to ANCA’s achievements from the beginning. Targeting the field of CNC tool grinders, they decided that the future of the company lay in exporting to the world. Now, ANCA competes and wins on a global stage for the tool and cutter grinding machine market.

More than anything else what has driven ANCA’s growth over the past 48 years has been a series of innovations that have revolutionised the production of cutting tools and have impacted the whole of manufacturing.

ANCA has 38 patent applications globally, from seven patent families in the fields of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and software. Competing internationally has created a continuing focus on innovation and to be first to market with new and better technical solutions.

As ANCA designs and manufactures its own machines, control system, and software, the company is able to provide innovative solutions for key components such as CNC controls, spindle and servo drives.
Technology is part of ANCA's DNA

Pat McCluskey said: “We didn’t go into business to in effect to make money. We went into business for the excitement of it, and because of the technology – we wanted to demonstrate the technology.”

“Our grinding machines are very, very accurate machines, very reliable. And they are the machine of choice…right through America, through Europe, Asia, Japan, Korean. And it’s because of the software and the mechanics and the fine blend of the two together…they work in harmony.”

Typical of a leader able to do what nobody else in its field can do, ANCA has achieved a long list of world firsts. These include:

• First to introduce a probe for digitising tools in a CNC tool and cutter grinder
• First to introduce a modem for support and diagnostics in a CNC tool and cutter grinder
• First to introduce soft axes for significantly simplified programming of a CNC tool and cutter grinder
• First to introduce MPG Feed for safe program debugging and testing
• First to introduce Windows-style Graphical Users Interface and Real Time Operating System in a CNC tool and cutter grinder
• First to introduce a CNC tool and cutter grinder with all rotary and linear axes being directly driven
• First to introduce industry standard Statistical Process Control (SPC) in a CNC tool & cutter grinder
• First to introduce iBurr software for burr grinding, which uses Active Graphical User Interface
• First to introduce full and true 3D simulation of the grinding process - CIM3D (patented in Australia and USA)

On winning the award Pat Boland said: “Pat McCluskey and I are honoured by the winning of this award. We thank all our teams who have contributed to ANCA’s success in the global marketplace."
 
 

3 October 2022