HxGN SMART Quality Measurement Resource Management Software

Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division announced a new release of its HxGN SMART Quality online quality data and measurement resource management software, the enterprise IT solution designed to help manufacturers utilize aggregated quality data to gain actionable intelligence and insight for process optimization. Providing a single platform for managing product quality and measurement resources, HxGN SMART Quality homogenizes data from disparate systems across multiple locations to offer a company-wide view of quality. The latest version adds new capabilities to help manufacturers improve equipment effectiveness, assess manufacturing process capability, and handle documents and workflows efficiently.

The new release of HxGN SMART Quality features OEE-like functionality for all machines connected to HxGN SMART Quality so that manufacturers can assess and compare Overall Equipment Effectiveness using a standard metric. Offering insight into both availability and performance, it supports root cause analysis for investigating anomalies on an individual piece of equipment in line with total productive maintenance principles. Improvements to the software’s document- and workflow-management toolset enable manufacturers to build robust processes for measurement and minimize the risk of common operational errors. The user interface has also been enhanced with an individually-configurable dashboard, while user-friendly functionality such as the ability to display part-mounting instructions within INSPECT helps to simplify shop-floor operations. HxGN SMART Quality’s statistical process control capabilities are boosted with the addition of Q-DAS Monitoring, which enables near real-time visualization of measurement and process data. The software’s connectivity credentials are enhanced by the ability to directly interface with Heidenhain CNCs, offering new potential for data exchange with production equipment.

“HxGN SMART Quality was created to address the underutilization of quality data within the manufacturing process by connecting equipment and automatically aggregating and structuring data in a standard format so that it can be used to make improvements,” said Benjamin Bickel, Product Manager for HxGN SMART Quality. “In this release we’ve really focused on equipment effectiveness, with new resource management tools designed to assess and improve utilization and performance in the context of environmental conditions. In conjunction with the software’s powerful toolset for manufacturing process capability studies, this new functionality adds a huge amount of value for manufacturers who need to streamline processes to remain competitive.”