Software suite focuses on operation excellence

Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division has released HxGN Production Machining, a software suite developed to help machine shops with their operational goals.

Capabilities of the suite include CAD for manufacturing and design review, CAM for CNC machine tool programming, process simulation and G-code verification and optimization, shop floor production intelligence, and automation and collaboration powered by the company’s digital reality platform Nexus.

According to the developer, the suite’s flexibility makes it suitable for shops of any size, all types of CNC machinery, and any discrete part and material from one-off prototype to high-volume production runs.

The DESIGNER software accepts CAD data from any vendor and helps manufacturers easily visualize and analyze part model geometry. The software also helps utilize product manufacturing information (PMI), such as tolerance, surface finish, and material data. The suite is designed to preserve this valuable information across the digital thread to streamline production.

Three CAM systems—EdgeCAM, ESPRIT, and ESPRIT EDGE—can program almost any kind of machine tool, including multiaxis, multitasking, and Swiss-type machines and wire EDM. The CAM systems provide numerous machining cycles, programs for on-machine measurement, automation tools, machine-optimized G-code, and uses AI to automatically generate collision-free positioning between cutting zones.

The programs are then sent to the NCSIMUL software, which incorporates the entire machining environment to generate a digital twin of the machinery, part, and processes for cycle time optimization, setup revision, and program certification.

High-volume and precision manufacturing operations can implement closed-loop quality capabilities from the suite, applying series metrology data to predict when parts will begin to fall out of tolerance and automatically perform tool offsets caused by normal tool wear. And the Intelligent Machine Control (IMC) software uses statistical process control to directly update the CNC, eliminating manual offsets to enable lights-out production.

Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence | www.hexagonmi.com