As the July 22–25, 2024, Coordinate Metrology Society Conference (CMSC) rapidly approaches, quality professionals anticipate opportunities to explore and showcase various products and ideas from some of the biggest names and organizations. InnovMetric, Hexagon, Renishaw, Nikon, and many others will be attending. This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the most significant conference for measurement technology professionals in their rapidly changing industry.
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2024 CMSC will host a variety of exhibitors at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in Charlotte, North Carolina. According to the official conference site, attendees can expect technical seminars with real-life applications as well as background research from academic sources. They will be able to talk with metrology and technology experts on the floor, and take advantage of training, panel discussions, and networking opportunities.
Interview with an innovator
InnovMetric, one of the well-known exhibitors, provided more insight into what to expect from them at CMSC this year, as well as the advances they’ve developed during the past half decade as companies incorporate more auto-generated, AI, and 3D measurement technology.
Jean-Sébastien Blais, an expert and leader in enterprise solution deployment at InnovMetric, answered a few questions via an email interview.
QD: What makes InnovMetric (and their products) unique?
IM: InnovMetric is a recognized leader in the field of 3D measurement software and the pioneer of point cloud-based inspection. PolyWorks, its universal digital ecosystem, has revolutionized the industry. It allows manufacturing companies to accelerate the design, development, and quality control of their products by quickly identifying possible solutions to their manufacturing challenges.
Today, the company has 650 employees spread across 18 countries and offers its services in 43 languages to more than 23,000 clients in 100 countries.
InnovMetric supports the world’s largest automobile manufacturers as well as the 100 largest manufacturing companies in the digital transformation of their metrology processes.
QD: What do you hope to showcase at CMSC?
IM: PolyWorks had built its reputation by delivering a universal 3D metrology platform that eliminates the silos between portable and CMM metrology, and raises the competence of measurement operators.
Today, PolyWorks has evolved into a complete digital ecosystem that integrates into the four phases of the dimensional management process: product design, process design, validation, and production.
Our experts are thrilled to demonstrate its powerful benefits to CMSC’s visitors.
QD: What are InnovMetric ’s leaders most excited about this year?
IM: We’ve successfully expanded the PolyWorks universal platform to offer a smart digital ecosystem integrated into the global dimensional management process. By doing so, we’ve transformed a departmental solution for 3D measurement teams into a digital enterprise solution that delivers 3D measurement data and results enterprisewide.
Here are the key cost reductions delivered by PolyWorks:
• Reduces the amount of software used by a manufacturing organization, because it not only manages the 3D measurement workflows with its universal platform but also handles the MSA, FAI, SPC, and MBD processes, and more.
• Automates the management of files and folders for the 3D measurement team, the consumers of 3D measurement data in all departments, and product designers, because MBD information is saved within their CAD models.
• Speeds up decision-making by stakeholders and reduces time to market, thanks to real-time access to 3D measurement information and modern digital communication tools that enable faster interactions.
Ultimately, it’s all about 3D measurement data collection and access. After all, all the data in the world are useless if engineers can’t get their hands on them.
QD: What has your involvement been with CMSC historically, and what benefits do you see from exhibits and discussion with other leaders in the industry?
IM: InnovMetric has been exhibiting its technologies to CMSC participants for many years mainly because it’s such a focused crowd. We count on a single hand the events where measurements and metrology are the main topics of interest. This annual event is a great opportunity to stay connected and meet with PolyWorks users, metrology experts, and industry leaders.
It’s also the perfect opportunity to showcase our latest innovations and developments. The CMSC enables us to engage in discussions with members of the metrology community.
This event also allows us to meet our valuable partners and establish connections with them.
Lastly, CMSC provides us with an opportunity to discover potential new clients and stay abreast of recent developments in our industry.
QD: What has changed most for InnovMetric during the past five years?
IM: In the past five years, PolyWorks has undergone a major transformation. It used to be a departmental solution used mainly by quality control teams and manufacturing engineers to inspect and reverse-engineer parts and assemblies in 3D. Today, we offer an enterprise solution that provides a digital thread that interconnects all the teams and systems that produce and consume 3D measurement data. This transformation has profoundly changed the way we plan our development cycles. Before, we listened to the 3D measurement needs of our PolyWorks|Inspector users. Now we also must consider the needs of the people and systems that consume our 3D measurement data. So, we needed to develop a broader, more holistic vision to ensure that our decisions benefit all our clients.
This year, the big theme was cost reduction. How could we significantly lower the costs of 3D measurement processes so our customers could painlessly scale up the use of 3D measurement data within their organization? The three key features of PolyWorks 2024 are in line with this strategic cost-reduction vision:
1. We have re-engineered the user interfaces of our inspection and reverse-engineering solutions so new users can learn and master basic workflows more easily, while proficient users can strengthen their skills by exploring new tools at their fingertips.
2. Our data management solution now leverages the full benefits of cloud storage. For example, storage costs can be as low as $50 per terabyte per year.
3. Finally, we have digitally interconnected PolyWorks to the Excel and PowerBI industry-standard reporting and analysis solutions from Microsoft. This allows our customers to leverage the existing skills of their data analysis experts instead of having to train them at considerable cost on a new third-party solution.
Quality Digest’s role at CMSC
This year, Quality Digest will be represented by three of our team members: Jeff Dewar (CEO), Dirk Dusharme (editor-in-chief), and Chris Smith (videographer). Along with providing coverage of what occurs at the event, our team participates in CMSC’s multiple avenues of discussion and inquiry so we can report on innovations in metrology presented by respected researchers and experts from various disciplines.
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