HEXAGON ANNOUNCES DIGITAL FACTORY SOLUTIONS

Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division has launched its new digitalisation solution, Digital Factory, designed to help manufacturers build highly accurate digital replicas of their factories. It enables manufacturers to optimise their floor plans and quickly pivot production lines today, and operate smarter and more sustainable future factories with open interfaces that connect digital twins of shopfloor assets. Such solutions could save a global manufacturing company £35 million per year* by avoiding costly mistakes and offering a 50% reduction in the typical travel costs and the on-site training required.

Hexagon is uniquely positioned to address this issue through its expertise in delivering best-in-class accuracy reality capture and surveying equipment, software to visualise, explore and simulate scenarios in 3D, and high-productivity cloud-native collaboration workflows. Digitalisation technologies are a proven technology and have been used for over two decades in civil infrastructure, architecture and public safety, but their potential has yet to be fully realised in the manufacturing space where significant disruption now requires manufacturers – in particular brownfield site owners – to rethink their manufacturing equipment and use of space.

Digital Factory is a future-ready alternative to traditional factory planning that enables manufacturers to not only ramp up productivity, but also increase efficiency in remodelling, preventing costly mistakes. It also empowers more efficient collaboration between manufacturing and operations teams from anywhere in the world. The core of this solution is improved access to up-to-date data in immersive virtual environments that reflect reality, addressing a major barrier that smart factory initiatives face today.

Digital Factory leverages a comprehensive portfolio of hardware and software solutions that includes Hexagon’s award-winning range of reality capture technology – such as the Leica BLK2GO handheld imaging laser scanner, the Leica BLK ARC autonomous scanning module for robotic and mobile carriers and terrestrial laser scanners like the Leica RTC360 – that allow manufacturers to capture and create dimensionally-accurate point clouds of the factory floor. Using the Leica Cyclone software portfolio and Hexagon’s Reality Cloud Studio, powered by the HxDR, manufacturers can easily collaborate and quickly process data from Hexagon or a customer’s preferred scanning hardware to recreate up-to-date 3D spaces with speed and flexibility.

Hexagon offers complete workflows to ensure manufacturers achieve the maximum value, from scanning the factory and processing the data into actionable 3D models for various applications, to managing the data in the cloud, making it easier for team members and external stakeholders to provide feedback and make informed decisions. By using Digital Factory, manufacturers will be able to: