April 12, 2023 -- InnovMetric, the independent software development company that empowers manufacturers of every size to digitally transform their 3D measurement processes, is announcing the launch of PolyWorks 2023. This new release expands the PolyWorks universal 3D metrology platform to offer a digital ecosystem integrated into the four phases of a manufacturing organization’s global dimensional management process: product design, process design, validation, and production.
In addition to optimizing the performance of 3D measurement teams through universal platform enhancements, PolyWorks 2023 further reduces the cost of measuring in 3D in three different ways:
- PolyWorks offers improved Model-Based Definition (MBD) and Measurement System Analysis (MSA) digital workflows that help manufacturing organizations minimize the number of software used within their global dimensional management process.
- The PolyWorks data management solution can now be deployed in less than 15 minutes in the cloud and be interconnected with a corporate identity server.
- Finally, PolyWorks integrates new root cause analysis tools into its data management solution that can automatically identify the factors that impact production quality.
“For 10 years, we have invested heavily in digital technologies, which today allows us to help our customers increase their use of 3D measurement data while reducing their operating costs. What is our secret? We digitally interconnect our customers' platforms, such as CAD and PLM, PolyWorks, and Microsoft solutions. As a result, we can now easily provide business processes that previously required three or four different software and react in real time to problems on the production line while our decisions are based on factual 3D measurement data. Moreover, our customers can now deploy our data management solution in less than 15 minutes, which is a major breakthrough for small- and medium-sized enterprises,” says Marc Soucy, President of InnovMetric. He concludes, “For manufacturing organizations that are still questioning the relevance of their digital transformation, the question to ask is no longer why, but when.”
Product and process design phases
The PolyWorks|Inspector™ solution helps reduce time-to-market by measuring, controlling, and analyzing 3D dimensions at every stage of the product and process design phases. With PolyWorks|Inspector 2023, 3D measurement specialists can now set up measurement templates and perform 3D measurement tasks more efficiently. They can:
- Analyze and edit large measurement sequences quickly by finding steps using keyword searches or navigating through step types, such as errors and warnings;
- Replace the source objects of a dependent feature and preserve all related objects, data alignments, and reports created from this feature;
- Create curve-based features in a single click over a polygonal model of a measured piece to rapidly inspect a piece without CAD data.
Mixed reality display technologies provide localized visual guidance, measurement feedback, and access to inspection functionalities, without encumbering the hands of operators. The PolyWorks|AR™ 2023 mixed reality app offers new powerful tools to guide laser scanning, review inspection results, and collaborate with colleagues. Users can now:
- Position the hologram of the PolyWorks|Inspector 3D Scene window within the operator’s field of view to see scanning progression, perform additional scanning in areas of poor data quality, and pinpoint exactly where to scan features;
- Review feature deviations and color maps directly over the measured piece;
- Call colleagues through Microsoft Teams to review inspection results collaboratively and discuss manufacturing issues efficiently.
The PolyWorks|PMI+Loop™ Model-Based Definition solution allows manufacturing organizations to manage all the dimensional controls defined by the design and manufacturing teams within their native CAD platform. By associating dimensional controls to CAD geometries within CAD software, PolyWorks|PMI+Loop can automatically update these controls when the CAD model is modified and provide the digital traceability needed to accelerate the integration of a CAD design change within an inspection project. With version 2023, InnovMetric has improved the speed of its MBD solution by an order of magnitude and significantly reduced CAD file size. PolyWorks|PMI+Loop is available for the Siemens NX, PTC Creo, and DS SolidWorks CAD platforms.
Validation phase
Measurement System Analysis tools are essential to guarantee the capability of 3D measurement processes prior to certifying production tools. Since version 2021, users could launch a repeatability or gauge R&R study directly from PolyWorks|Inspector, be guided to capture the required probe, scan, or gauge data, and review the results within an updateable Excel spreadsheet linked to the inspection project. With PolyWorks 2023, InnovMetric has improved the speed of data transfer to Excel while removing previous limitations in terms of the number of dimensional controls, iterations, measured pieces, and operators.
Production phase
PolyWorks 2023 offers major evolutions to manage data from production lines and resolve manufacturing issues faster:
- Customers can now store up to one million pieces sampled from a production line within a single inspection project;
- Operators can monitor the production’s dimensional trends at a glance by displaying hundreds of charts at once within the
PolyWorks|DataLoop™ Web Interface;
- PolyWorks|DataLoop users can now automatically find the root causes of issues by performing statistical analyses of association, identifying the factors that impact production quality, and reviewing results presented in plain language with clear graphical aids.
Data management
The PolyWorks|DataLoop data management solution stores 3D measurement data on central servers and digitally interconnects all the people that capture or need access to 3D measurement information. With version 2023, InnovMetric has simplified the deployment of PolyWorks|DataLoop:
- InnovMetric now offers templates to install, configure, and start its data management solution on the Microsoft Azure or Amazon AWS cloud infrastructure in less than 15 minutes;
- PolyWorks|DataLoop now supports Azure AD and the SAML 2.0 authentication protocol to interconnect with corporate identity servers.
About InnovMetric
InnovMetric is an independent software development company that empowers manufacturers of every size to digitally transform their 3D measurement processes. InnovMetric revolutionized 3D metrology with the introduction of point-cloud-based dimensional inspection in 2000 and the concept of a universal 3D metrology software platform in 2006. Today, with over 18,700 customers in 99 countries, and the world’s largest industrial manufacturers having adopted its PolyWorks ® solutions as their standard 3D metrology software platform, InnovMetric is focusing on creating next-generation digital data and process management technologies. Headquartered in Quebec City, Canada, InnovMetric is a multinational organization with 500 employees dedicated to bringing 3D measurement data at the heart of enterprise manufacturing processes.
