The Hexagon Smart Manufacturing Innovation Centre recently opened in Singapore, fitted with wide array of advanced hardware and software technologies, aimed at enabling an autonomous future across Southeast Asia.
The new centre is run by the Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence division, which provides solutions that use data from design and engineering, production and metrology to make manufacturing smarter. Hexagon specialises in sensor, software and autonomous solutions, which data to work to boost efficiency, productivity, and quality across industrial, manufacturing, infrastructure, safety, and mobility applications.
“Singapore is a strategic location for Hexagon’s innovation centre in the ASEAN region, where we have seen a rapid rise of new innovations and start-ups in the region and the unfolding of 5G technologies,” said Paolo Guglielmini, president of Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division said. “We look forward to supporting the application of advanced technologies and smart manufacturing to support growth in industries such as electronics, medical technology or eMobility.”
The new centre is the company’s flagship facility in Southeast Asia and is currently manned by over two dozen people.
It will carry a range of smart digital manufacturing technologies and autonomous connected ecosystems. This includes Hexagon’s latest advanced Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) solutions for design engineering; Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) software for production applications; precision metrology, superior sensors, automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, data management and analytics solutions.
An environment for innovators
Indeed, the new centre will offer design and production engineers the best environment to learn, experiment, interact, and facilitate deeper learning and knowledge transfer in areas such as reverse engineering, additive manufacturing, shop-floor automated inspection and digitalisation of operations.
“This centre marks our on-going drive to bring Hexagon’s smart solutions into this region for the benefit of businesses here. It offers an environment for innovators, design engineers and manufacturers to test proof their inventions for quality, safety and productivity with access to our latest offerings which are a part of Hexagon’s Smart Solution portfolio,” said Lim Boon Choon, president for Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division, Korea, ASEAN, Pacific, and India.
Solutions at the Hexagon’s Smart Manufacturing Innovation Centre include:
- Advanced CAE solutions for design engineering, for simulation in the areas of comprehensive Computational Fluid Dynamics and Modern manufacturing simulation process such as forming, stamping, welding and additive manufacturing
- CAM software for production solutions like NCSIMUL and VISI Reverse
- Asset management and connected shopfloor digital solutions like SFx Asset Management
- Quality analysis solutions such as Q-DAS, VGSTUDIO Max and Laser Trackers
- Statistical Process Control to collect data for analytics
Lim hinted at exciting updates on the horizon. “More of Hexagon’s revolutionary smart technologies including the latest advanced non-contact sensors fitted on-machine, on coordinate measuring machines (CMM) as well as on Laser Trackers, to elevate quality and precision to the highest level possible will soon be featured at the centre. This is a pioneering achievement, one that the industry has not seen to-date.”
Eye on Southeast Asia
Industry research points to a shifting tide towards autonomous smart manufacturing in the next five years in Southeast Asia, especially with many industries and governments pushing for digitalisation.
Lim highlighted that the aerospace, automotive, electronics, medical technology as well as energy industries would stand to especially benefit from the new facility.
“Hexagon’s Smart Manufacturing Innovation Centre allows us to move closer towards creating an autonomous future where business, industry and humanity sustainably thrive,” he added.
Hexagon currently has smart manufacturing innovation centres and factories in Hongdao, China; Detroit, USA; Tokyo, Japan and several European countries. It will be expanding its footprint to include Thailand, Vietnam, India and Korea in the near future.
