- Nexus’s open cloud platform enables businesses to link Hexagon and third-party ecosystem technologies, enabling unprecedented real-time collaboration and feedback between engineering and manufacturing.
- Starting today, anyone can access Nexus, which powers the following four solutions: a connected workflow solution to optimise design for additive manufacturing processes; a machine learning-powered app that helps businesses save millions by foretelling the performance of new materials before they are produced; and a cloud-native material data management app.
- Nexus, which was co-engineered with Microsoft utilising the most up-to-date cloud technology, assists manufacturers by empowering siloed teams to use the data they need to create sustainable and optimised goods more quickly and effectively while producing them to the required quality.
The Manufacturing Intelligence branch of Hexagon has introduced Nexus, a digital reality platform. The new platform, which was just announced, uses cutting-edge cloud technologies to break down innovation bottlenecks. It enables international teams to work together in real-time throughout the entire product lifecycle, from design and engineering to production and quality, to solve design and manufacturing issues and shorten time to market.
In order to build a digital environment where insights are accessible to individuals in real time, in context, and in one location so they can make better decisions, Nexus connects equipment, data, and processes. Customers of Hexagon will be able to link the components they require from the company’s portfolio of hundreds of design and engineering, production, and metrology software programmes and devices, as well as technologies from other companies. Starting today, the first Nexus solutions are obtainable commercially:
- Metrology Reporting, a Nexus App: For businesses of all sizes to quickly report on previously untapped quality control data from their equipment to notice patterns and identify tolerance concerns, the app links Hexagon and third-party metrology data sources in Nexus’ secure cloud environment. Any user may create engaging, CAD-based interactive reports with insightful trend charts, KPIs, compliance paperwork, and real-time data to share with coworkers, clients, or suppliers.
- Materials Connect, a Nexus App: An entirely new cloud-based material data library that enables manufacturers or material suppliers to handle material data, physical test data, and behaviour models for use in product Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) workflows.
- Materials Enrich, a Nexus App: A first-of-its-kind Enrich software, it helps users locate and simulate ideal materials that may have never been created or measured, enhancing the performance and sustainability of their products. It does this by utilising the machine learning capabilities of the Nexus platform and cloud-accelerated material behaviour simulations.
- Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM), a Nexus Solution: A pre-configured solution that enables teams to more quickly and easily create the best metal 3D-printed parts and get them ready for the laser powder bed fusion (PBF) printing process. Customers may connect AM Studio from CADS Additive and Materials Connect to Hexagon’s MSC Apex Generative Design and Simufact Additive process simulation software over the cloud using the Nexus web interface, and manage user access to projects with ease.
Traditionally, compartmentalised processes like DfAM have been used to solve problems, involving at least three different engineers and independent software programmes. The loss of important data due to this absence of connectivity can be an expensive, time-consuming, and laborious process. These silos are broken down with Nexus so that each engineer involved in the process may access the desktop software they require and connect their tools to collaborate on issues in real time, something that has never been done previously in the industry.
By encouraging the discovery of new tools, training, and support across an unmatched spectrum of software and hardware from Hexagon and its partner ecosystem, Nexus will enable users to expand their current portfolio of technologies. The Manufacturing Execution System (MES) of Oqton, one of the partners at launch, will be connected to DfAM and comparable pre-production workflows, enabling clients to use data to reduce lead times, manage quality concerns, and empower operators. In order to give engineers more knowledge with which to design and build goods using electronic systems, Altium, a provider of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software, will also connect its portfolio to Nexus.
Companies all over the world are pushing the limits of innovation, and Industry 4.0 is bringing increasingly more tools, technologies, and data sources into view, according to Parth Joshi, Chief Product and Technology Officer for Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division. Processes and data sources are frequently compartmentalised, and team members find it difficult to work together across specialities, which is a concern for the sector. Progress is being significantly hampered by this.
“We need to alter the way we operate if businesses are to gain from smart manufacturing. Our goal with Nexus is to empower creative brains by connecting them across disciplines. Hexagon’s innovation expertise can help firms realise ideas more quickly than ever before by linking people, technologies, and data. We’re interested in what users will do with the technology going forward.
Through the Nexus web portal, with a single login and user interface, these initial solutions may be viewed and managed. Customers can send up-to-date “live” metrology trend reports up and down the supply chain with just one click by inviting any external user to the platform. It will be simpler for businesses to make improvements to how they work and to solve issues with coworkers within the same firm or throughout the supply chain when more Apps and Solutions are connected to Nexus.
With Nexus, businesses of all sizes can receive cloud benefits without paying exorbitant prices, waiting a long time for system integration, or incurring high IT costs. Because the platform combines desktop and cloud technologies, there is no need to “move to the cloud.” Performance is optimised, and intellectual property is safeguarded at every stage because clients only need to share the data that their team members need. Larger businesses may connect teams using Nexus with their enterprise software platforms thanks to the platform’s open architecture, keeping their existing business and regulatory procedures while enhancing the digital thread as needed with missing data.
Supporting quotes
“Everyone will be connected to someone’s digital thread in our smart, connected future. Likewise, industrial businesses are increasingly relying on the cloud to serve their essential operational requirements. With Nexus, Hexagon makes it easier for their clients to utilise their sizable range of digital solutions in the cloud, enabling them to improve their digital threads as a component of their broader IT environment.
Stan Przybylinski, Vice President, CIMdata
“We’re pleased to add MES functionality from Oqton and IoT machine connectivity to Hexagon’s Nexus platform. We strongly support open platforms, just like Hexagon, and we’re thrilled to provide customers with the greatest tools available, including real-time data-driven workflows spanning engineering, design, and simulation processes. This cutting-edge platform combines design and manufacturing to save lead times while enhancing results and quality.
Ben Schrauwen, Founder and SVP, Oqton.
Our common dedication to openness allows us to immediately provide clients with value, so we are very delighted to join Hexagon to integrate our Altium 365 platform with Nexus. The massive intelligence that Nexus and our ecosystem of Altium 365 solutions offer across the product lifecycle will enable our vision of a “Intelligent by Design,” industry solution that empowers teams to evaluate the effect of design choices early.
Ted Pawela, Chief Ecosystem Officer, Altium
Customers are encouraged to find out how the brand-new services introduced today might benefit their teams. Anyone can register to learn more about the Hexagon technology ecosystem, and over the course of the next year, Nexus will receive dozens of additional Apps, Solutions, and Portal features and localizations as part of a committed and long-term roadmap.
Click on the following link, Metrologically Speaking to read more such news about the Metrology Industry.
