InnovMetric, the independent software development company that empowers manufacturers of every size to digitally transform their 3D measurement processes, announces the launch of PolyWorks 2024. This enterprise solution sets up a digital thread that lowers the cost of scaling up the use of 3D measurement data by deploying a universal 3D metrology platform and delivering 3D measurement data to engineering and manufacturing teams in real-time. The PolyWorks digital ecosystem accelerates the design, development, and validation of products and manufacturing processes. It also controls the quality of individual pieces and assembled products, and helps resolve manufacturing issues as soon as they occur.
This new PolyWorks release significantly lowers the costs related to learning and operating 3D metrology software, managing large point cloud data files, and leveraging 3D measurement data within third-party reporting and analysis solutions:
- The user interfaces of the PolyWorks universal 3D metrology platform have been re-engineered to let users perform inspection tasks and discover new tools intuitively, access frequently used tools more directly, and quickly find the functionalities that apply to selected objects. PolyWorks 2024 allows new users to learn and master basic workflows more easily, while seasoned users can strengthen their skills by exploring new tools at their fingertips.
- PolyWorks 2024 can manage vast amounts of 3D measurement data efficiently by using cloud storage, which is cost effective and delivers benefits such as instantaneous storage space increase and data file replication across multiple data centers.
- PolyWorks now offers plug-ins that interconnect its data management system to the Excel and Power BI industry-standard reporting and analysis solutions from Microsoft. Manufacturing organizations will appreciate the simplicity of being able to rapidly inject smart 3D inspection data into their favorite reporting tool, instead of having to train their internal experts at considerable cost on a third-party solution.
“When facing a customer requirement, we are sometimes confronted with the dilemma of either developing our own solution or leveraging an existing third-party solution. It is always tempting to code a new solution to own the intellectual property over it. For end-users, however, a new solution for which customers are unprepared could increase their operating and maintenance costs,” said Marc Soucy, President of InnovMetric.
He added, “As lowering our customers’ operating costs is a key element of our strategy, we generally prefer to interconnect our digital ecosystem to existing tools. This approach simplifies the adoption of our solutions while maximizing the tools with which customers are familiar. We are proud to offer an open digital ecosystem that brings the rich 3D measurement data to the heart of manufacturing processes in an efficient and cost-effective manner.”
Universal platform enhancements
The PolyWorks|Inspector™ solution helps reduce time-to-market by measuring, controlling, and analyzing 3D dimensions at every stage of the manufacturing process. With version 2024, InnovMetric delivers major gains in efficiency through its re-engineered user interfaces. Users can now:
- Perform inspection tasks and discover new tools intuitively, thanks to a new ribbon menu and an improved interface widget organization that offers a more logical workflow
- Access frequently used tools more directly, thereby reducing mouse movements and clicks
- Quickly find the functionalities that apply to selected objects by accessing a contextual tab or a simplified contextual menu
PolyWorks|Inspector 2024 also offers new high-value tools and workflows:
- Surface datum features within datum reference frames
- Contextual control views to analyze surface deviations in multiple alignments and inspect dimensional controls in multiple coordinate systems
- CADless inspection workflows on CNC CMMs
Characteristic augmenters in 3D measurement plans
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. Version 2024 lets users add specialized supplemental information to characteristics, such as criticality classifications, quality plan requirements, and revision numbers. Once defined within their CAD platform, characteristic augmenters may then be consumed by downstream applications, such as PolyWorks|Inspector.
Full benefits of cloud storage and improved security policies
The PolyWorks|DataLoop™ data management solution stores 3D measurement data on central servers and digitally interconnects all the people who capture or need access to 3D measurement information. Version 2024 now leverages the full benefits of cloud storage. Manufacturing organizations can:
- Set up a highly scalable infrastructure that adapts instantaneously to storage needs
- Replicate data files automatically across multiple data centers to ensure reliability
- Deploy a cost-effective storage solution without compromise
Security policies allow manufacturing organizations to control who has access to data and what can be done with it. Version 2024 allows PolyWorks|DataLoop users to:
- Implement sound data access policies by assigning distinct storage spaces to different departments, business areas, or external suppliers
- Define security policies efficiently by creating new policies from existing ones and enriching them with specific permissions
Expanding Web-based views of the 3D measurement database
The PolyWorks|DataLoop Web interface allows users to review 3D measurement results within a standard Web browser through an extensive set of standard and special-purpose widgets. With version 2024, users can now:
- Display the 3D measurement results of one or multiple pieces horizontally
- Create an unlimited number of widgets within a dashboard
- Leverage Excel’s extensive mathematical and charting functionalities
Digital interconnections to industry-standard reporting and analysis solutions
PolyWorks|ReportLoop™ is an interoperability solution that integrates inspection data into Microsoft Excel for reporting and advanced analysis. Version 2024 now allows manufacturing organizations to interconnect their PolyWorks|DataLoop server to Excel. Users have access to a search engine to quickly find sources of data plus user-friendly tools to inject smart 3D inspection data into their spreadsheets. Excel spreadsheet cells remain dynamically linked to the data they contain through formulas.
Version 2024 also marks the debut of a new PolyWorks|ReportLoop for Power BI solution. PolyWorks’ Power BI connector allows retrieving data from a PolyWorks|DataLoop server and leveraging the query editor to process the imported data and display it using Power BI’s powerful visualization tools.
