Hexagon Live 2018: A Glimpse into the Future of Metrology
“THE FUTURE IS NOW,” as they say. This theme was prevalent throughout the many presentations and emerging technologies on display at this year’s HxGN Live 2018 Conference held at the Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Central to Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence’s presentation was the concept of the “Smart Factory.” Launched back in 2017, Smart Quality is defined as “an online quality data and measurement resource management software.” In simpler terms, it’s a system that monitors variations in manufacturing output and instantly returns actionable data to the manufacturing cell. This Autonomous Connected Ecosystem (ACE) is cutting edge and will go a long way to increase throughput in the 21st century factory!
From Smart Quality to Smart phones! We all have smart phones within arms-length at any given point in our day, so why not integrate them into the manufacturing workflow? Many of the breakout sessions at this year’s conference began by inviting attendees to download an app on their smartphones to instantly connect the group and allow for interaction, live surveys and even connectivity to web-based forums.
Hexagon has taken the smartphone app a step further this year and integrated it into the world of CMM inspection with their new “PC-DMIS Go” app – just one component of the HxGN Smart Quality “digital thread.”
This app allows users to receive status messages from Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence’s PC-DMIS metrology software. Users are given the option to subscribe to various CMM machines (devices) and measurement routine events that they wish to be notified about. We’re excited about the possibilities of this new app and will soon be offering demos to our customer base here in Canada!
One of the many benefits of attending a conference like HxGN Live is that you’re given the chance to meet some of the top PC-DMIS software developers who have key roles in implementing new features into the world’s most popular metrology software.
I had the opportunity to meet and chat with Matt Kopesky, Software Test Engineer for Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence during a “What’s new in PC-DMIS 2018 R2” presentation. We had a good discussion where I offered my thoughts on certain areas with “room for improvement,” and I was glad to hear that they were already working on them! He finished by saying that he appreciated the feedback and that they need this sort of input more than once a year. (Stay tuned for my next article on the PC-DMIS Idea Center)
The session was very informative and I took many notes and soon after downloaded the pre-release version of PC-DMIS 2018 R2.
