Q. You being the industry leader in measurement technology for many industries, please brief tell us about your company’s global reach & latest initiatives?
Hexagon is a global leader in digital reality solutions, combining sensor, software and autonomous technologies aiming for efficiency, sustainability and Green Manufacturing. We put data to work to boost efficiency, productivity, quality and safety across industrial, manufacturing, infrastructure, public sector, and mobility applications.
Our technologies are shaping production and people-machine ecosystems to become increasingly connected and autonomous — ensuring a scalable, sustainable future. We believe in a world where economic growth does not come at the expense of the planet and its people, and that we should drive sustainability efforts in every aspect of our business. Hexagon has approximately 22,000 employees in 50 countries and net sales of approximately 4.3bn EUR.
The scope of our technology is vast– from award-winning scanners to sustainability solutions that predict catastrophic wildfires. Our technologies are crucial in mega projects around the world – such as the Gotthard Rail Tunnel, the Yavuz-Sultan-Selim Bridge and the Burj Khalifa. Hexagon technologies globally are used to manufacture 90% of aircraft, 85% of smart phones and 75% of every automobile produced.
Q. What are the exclusive products which your company offers to various industries? How do you plan to position these services?
The manufacturing landscape is looking at increasingly customised solutions for efficient processes. Hexagon has been a leader in delivering smart digital realities that require real time and autonomous data capture, analysis and visualisation. We integrate real-world sensor inputs which combined with software solutions are built to analyse, predict and act to create new and more complete realities that address uncertainty and enable resilient organisations, teams and workflows.
Thus, our digital reality solutions adjusted to the client needs enable customers to harness the rapidly increasing amounts of data, putting it to work to boost efficiency, productivity, quality and safety across industrial, manufacturing, infrastructure, public sector and mobility applications.
Hexagon has a unique set of five core competencies critical to fusing the physical and digital worlds and fully connecting and leveraging customers’ data. When leveraged together, they add up to perhaps the most dynamic and powerful use of data in history: The Smart Digital Reality™. It’s what Hexagon aims to deliver with every solution.
Q. What are the new products launched recently?
Hexagon has recently launched two new products in Metrology.
Portable Sharing Arms—An Absolute Arm -Scanning device (Reverse Engineering can be shown with this Arm) which is fitted with laser scanner. It is the world’s first IP54-protected portable measuring arm, for portable 3D scanning and probing anywhere. With four different 3D scanning options, the Absolute Arm is made for the future of industrial measurement. High-speed, high-productivity, user-friendly and highly versatile – this is a portable measuring arm that offers more than incremental changes, delivering the new features requested by users as they look to measure in ever more challenging environments.
Machine tool work Probe and Tool Setter — The IRP40.02 infrared touch probe is a robust, fast, reliable, and precise system that meets all dynamic requirements in the machine tool. Extreme accelerations, high positioning speeds, constant vibrations, hard tool changes, increased temperatures and aggressive coolants pose no problems for Hexagon touch probes. Hexagon’s precision mechanics can continue to switch without wear and extremely precisely for years under all the variable conditions.
Some of our other new innovations are the industry first handheld picture-perfect imaging solutions, on site scanning and edge computation solution and ground-penetrating radar solutions which are disrupting the entire industry. These innovations are carried out at Hexagon’s Capability Center India (HCCI), the single largest R&D hub of Hexagon worldwide.
Q. How do these products cater to the demand in the industry?
Machine tools refer to power devices used to assist manufacturing process, an integral mechanical part on which the precise functionality of the machine or manufacturing line depends. Machine tools are generally used for forming, cutting, and joining other tools. The probing system is a measuring tool configured on CNC machines to measure the features of CNC machined parts, correct the coordinate system, recognize error and others, which can improve the machining quality of the manufacturing equipment, reduce cost and save time. Modern CNC machine tools require exact tool geometry data in order to manufacture parts precisely. The tool presetter determines this tool data – outside the machine, saving a lot of setup time, because immediately after insertion, one can read the parameters in the tool data from the tool presetter.
The Absolute Arm Compact is the ultimate solution for ultra-high-accuracy touch probe measurement of small-to-medium sized parts. Fitting easily on a workshop table or under a CNC machine, the Absolute Arm Compact assists portability and usability. Built on an integrated base and innovative counterweight balance system, the Absolute Arm Compact is a plug and play model without any warm-up or waiting time. There is also no need to fix it to a work surface – just place it where one needs it and start measuring. For quality control that demands fast and extremely accurate measurement, it is one of the best products.
Our autonomous technologies add the power of machine learning, AI and edge computing, integrating learning and decision-making into any system to deliver solutions that adapt to dynamic environments and evolve as environments change — it gets smarter with time and challenges.
Q. In your opinion, what are the technology transformations in industries taking place that lead to dire need of measurement products among the manufacturers?
A changing workforce, faster-moving digital ecosystems of customers and suppliers, and tech disrupters are reshaping the industrial sector in such a manner that there are trends of additive manufacturing near production sites, AI-based automated inspections, use of big data to take decisions on design and production which are reinventing human machine interfaces.
Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Hybrid manufacturing toolkits to assist precision, demand for automotive and remote sensors, integration of blockchain manufacturing with smart software are a few trends in every industry that will determine the emerging trends of industrial manufacturing.
Industry, especially manufacturing is in a very dynamic state now, where other emerging tech can disrupt the demand of product specifications down the line. Hence, innovations in measurement technology will also depend on identifying new opportunities, engage in consistent research and development and striving forward to gain a competitive advantage.
Q. What are your future plans to maintain substantial market positioning in measurement business?
The Indian manufacturing landscape is largely dominated by micro small and medium (MSME) industries. Hexagon aims to address the need of this sector. These factories are faced with lack of awareness about the new smart manufacturing technologies, Industry 4.0, efficient processes, recent digitisation tools and others. As the challenges are often unique to a particular organisation, they require customised solutions.
Hexagon got into partnership with CMTI, Bangalore in 2021 to focus on this issue. Hexagon is working with CMTI to establish a Smart Factory Demonstrator with a Digital Twin for Small & Medium Business/ Enterprises with examples relating to CNC machining, sheet metal production and additive manufacturing. Employing Industry 4.0 on Smart Factory platforms, the Smart Factory Demonstrator showcases the latest manufacturing technologies for these industries. We are looking at consolidating the leadership position in measurement technology by addressing the need of the grassroot industries, which may be small in essence but has a major impact on GDP, on environment, on employment and value addition.
Q. How is Hexagon future-ready?
Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division provides solutions that utilise data from design and engineering, production and metrology to make manufacturing smarter. New advancements and designing process in Hexagon MI is always in the transition phase, as we continue to evolve with the industry mechanics. From traditional inspection or measurement machines to high precision, Industry 4.0 compliant machines, automation assisted production, AI-enabled machines which will be the need of the day soon, we as a group, has an edge to deliver on all aspects and that’s what Hexagon MI is all about.
It’s a unique combination of design & engineering, production, measurement solutions and forming the closed loop with Industry 4.0 solutions that helps us to cater to numerous individualized demands from various industry sectors.
