Simulation results are combined with physical data through artificial intelligence.

Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division recently announced its plans for company growth at its first simulation-focused conference, HxGN Live Design and Engineering 2021. The event invited engineers, programmers and designers from around the world to learn about the challenges facing today’s manufacturers, with a healthy dose of the products that MSC and Hexagon have to solve those problems.

Hexagon technology is in 95 percent of cars produced. (Image courtesy of Hexagon.)

Paolo Guglielmini, president of Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division, started the conference off with a presentation titled “Smarter Manufacturing by Design.” If manufacturing is going to become more efficient and sustainable, Guglielmini said, then computer-aided engineering (CAE) will need to play a significant role in the change. Sensing technologies and the software portfolio are the two areas where Hexagon is focusing its current efforts. Sensors have always been the company’s core business, but the software and CAE efforts have been coming on strong over the last decade with a combination of growth from within the company and through its acquisitions.

New divisions within Hexagon are in place to give focus to the needs of a diverse customer base, from automotive to aerospace to agricultural to consumer electronics. Guglielmini said that the Manufacturing Intelligence division’s current strategy is “building and deploying with customers’ smart digital realities.” Smart digital realities are the ways in which the company looks at the integration of real and virtual environments.

The mission that Hexagon brings to every project is an autonomy that will seem continuous, self-learning and predictive to the end user. Digital twins are built with real-world measured data and are used to boost the two focus areas of the conference: manufacturing and sustainability. Hexagon believes that simulation is the best tool available to make its digital tools smarter.

CoSim analyzes vehicle systems. (Image courtesy of Hexagon.)

Guglielmini said that CAE technologies are growing at a rate where the tools will impact the manufacturing world in a real and meaningful way. CAE will become increasingly predictive with regard to efficiencies in the manufacturing process. Sustainability is broad and challenging, but CAE will have a powerful role as the world works to improve its current state.

Roger Assaker, president of the Design and Engineering Software business unit, spoke about simulation and what Hexagon hopes to achieve soon. MSC Software started in 1965 to support NASA’s trip to the moon, with Nastran as the company’s first software. Patran and Adams were added to the portfolio before the company was acquired by the Hexagon Group in 2017.

Assaker said that Hexagon’s core competencies in simulation are:

• Reality capture and positioning
• Autonomous simulation
• Design and simulation
• Location intelligence 

He stressed that 5,000 research and development engineers account for 20 percent of the company’s revenues, and 12 percent of the company’s revenue is reinvested into R&D. The simulation branch of the company is led by engineers rather than businesspeople, with the leadership combining for more than 140 years of CAE experience.

A jet engine example was shown where the project started with designers and engineers using simulation to optimize manufacturability. In the production phase, tool paths are built for the CNC manufacturing processes. The metrology and inspection phase benefits from in-process inspection of the parts and more process optimization for the physical components. Finally, the maintenance and repair phase of the project uses data analytics to identify overall issues with the process or to predict when a component should receive service.

This digital thread, Assaker said, will help end users to see where their individual contributions flow into the downstream parts and processes but can also act as a feedback loop. The artificial intelligence built into the enterprise is taking information about quality inspections, for example, and using it to make the next project’s toolpaths smarter, as well as more likely to create higher-quality components.

Hexagon’s goal for simulation is to make a smarter and more sustainable manufacturing product. One large part of the strategy is scanning the physical manufacturing processes to develop datasets that will help artificial intelligence and predictive software learn. Another goal is to democratize CAE tools and find new ways to ensure that it’s not just design engineers who have access to the tools. Personnel on the shop floor should be just as comfortable using simulation tools to optimize a process, because the people who have their hands on the actual physical parts eight hours a day often know more about them than anyone in the company.

Chained simulation brings together data from multiple departments. (Image courtesy of Hexagon.)

Moving forward, the simulation division is split into eight “Centers of Excellence,” each focusing on a discipline of physics. As each of the Centers was discussed, the standout seems to be the materials division, where the goal is split between exploring new materials, how they can be used, and ensuring that customers are getting the best possible use out of current materials. Each division has its expertise, but Assaker reminded us that reality is made of many physical disciplines working together at once and stressed that multiphysics is vitally important to the simulation landscape.

Artificial intelligence is another large piece of the Hexagon simulation machine. Each of the company’s eight divisions is committing to artificial intelligence technology that will take physics calculations and work to marry those with data from current products and processes. The new ODYSSEE A-Eye image capture software was introduced (more on that here) along with an example of a ball hitting a plate, and using images instead of simulation data and calculations, to optimize the materials and process. Moving to image capture can take finite element processes that would have required hours to finish and complete them in just seconds.

MSC One is the new licensing system that allows an end user to access all the company’s diverse technologies. As new companies are acquired or merged into Hexagon, users will have the ability to use their tools. The new license includes access to partner software and gives users a portal where specific tools can be chosen.

The company also maintains a strong commitment to educating its users not just about its software but also about concepts like sustainability, alternative energy and metrology. Customers and sometimes non-customers can access training classes, webinars and meetings to gain knowledge and skills.

A solid series is the Can I Measure It videos, which shows different applications where Hexagon products are being used to boost manufacturing processes. These videos almost serve as a physical real-world counterpart to the calculation-based simulation world, where applications are shown at various points in the production process and the question “Can I Measure It” starts users down the path to a more sustainable system.

One of the most striking ideas from the “Smarter Manufacturing by Design” presentation comes from Roger Assaker. It turns out that 95 percent of all cars produced have some Hexagon technology inside of them. And 90 percent of all aircraft, 75 percent of all smartphones, and 80 percent of orthopedic implants follow suit.

A strong commitment is present throughout the presentations and webinars in the Design and Engineering Live 2021 show. It outlines how Hexagon and MSC are taking simulations and making them stronger by using artificial intelligence to mix in data from physical components. The hope is that this strategy will lead to more efficient manufacturing processes, more innovation and more CAE tools.

For more on how Hexagon is using AI to assist CAE technology, read Hexagon Bets on Image Recognition AI to Democratize Engineering Simulation.