The requirements for modern cutting material systems as well as the use of individual tool technologies for novel machining concepts are at the center of the IAK 'Tool Coatings and Cutting Materials', which is held biannually by the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology (IPK) in cooperation with the Institute for Machine Tools and Factory Management (IWF) of the Technical University of Berlin and the Fraunhofer Institute for Coating and Surface Technology (IST) Braunschweig.