Every leap forward in manufacturing begins by measuring what was once beyond perception and asking where that precision might take us next. In Season 2, Episode 3 of the IMTS+ Original Series: “The Architect,” Travis Egan, chief revenue officer at AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, visits Hexagon (IMTS booth #134102) in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, to find out how you make a machine capable of detecting differences too small for the human eye to see. He explores the metrology company’s coordinate measurement machines (CMMs) and the extraordinary accuracy required to build a machine designed to measure precision. Measuring the Nearly Imperceptible The science of metrology starts with a deceptively simple question: How do you make the same part twice? This is where Hexagon comes in. At the center of its factory is a coordinate measuring machine, or CMM, which maps an object’s exact shape in three dimensions. As a calibrated probe moves across a part’s surface, it records coordinates. Software compares those points with the original design, revealing where the part matches specifications or has imperceptible differences. That capability helps make interchangeable parts possible and underpins assembly lines, global supply chains, and modern manufacturing. Steve Ilmrud, vice president at Hexagon, gives Egan a tour of the factory floor. “We support not only the production here of the factory but also our service activities for all our customers throughout the Americas,” says Ilmrud. One machine produced in the factory is Hexagon’s 7.10.7 CMM, which measures parts across a space of roughly one meter. Yet its published accuracy specification begins just above three microns. For perspective, one micron is 1,000th of a millimeter. Even more impressive: The machine achieves that accuracy beside active production, where heat, vibration, and contamination are constantly working against it. Building a machine capable of that level of measurement requires exacting manufacturing in its own right. Consider Hexagon’s air bearings, which allow the bridge of a CMM to travel on a cushion of air, creating a frictionless system with no contact between them. If those surfaces are uneven and air is distributed unevenly, the axis will not float as designed. This creates friction, unpredictable movement, and at this scale, measurement error. To measure in microns, Hexagon first has to manufacture in microns. Precision Meets Automation Every part at Hexagon is machined, measured, checked against data, and fed back into the process before it becomes part of the final machine. Much of that in-process checking relies on Hexagon's own device technologies. Technicians use the company's portable Absolute Arm, the same coordinate measuring arm sold to manufacturers around the world, to scan structural components of the CMM itself. It is Hexagon's own metrology tools that inspect the equipment built to deliver metrology. Now, that expertise is converging with a new generation of technology. Maestro, Hexagon's new digital CMM platform, is beginning production in Rhode Island. Unlike previous CMMs, Maestro features a front display that provides real-time information to the customer along with a controller attached directly to the machine. Hexagon’s customers report that the machine offers a more seamless and speedier measurement and data acquisition process. For Ilmrud, the evolution of metrology also points toward a manufacturing future where people increasingly work alongside automation. “The trick is going to be, ‘How do we take automation technology and integrate it with our staff and teams?’” he says. “[At Hexagon] we help the makers make their products.” Egan’s visit reveals something bigger than the production of CMMs. Measurement gives manufacturers information, and that information creates an opportunity to improve the next part, the next process, and ultimately the next product. At Hexagon, seeing what the human eye can’t is where that process begins. Watch “The Architect” Tune into Season 2, Episode 3 of the IMTS+ Original Series: “The Architect,” and watch Egan tour Hexagon’s Rhode Island factory and discover how the company manufactures machines capable of measuring microns. Save the date for IMTS 2028, Sept. 11-16, 2028, in Chicago's McCormick Place, to discover metrology tools, connections, and ideas in the Quality Assurance sector that may lead to your next breakthrough. Further Reading: SpaceX Engineers New Possibilities for Space FlightMust-See Manufacturing TVParagon Manufactures Mission-Critical Technologies for Space Exploration
In Season 2, Episode 3 of the IMTS+ Original Series: “The Architect,” AMT's Travis Egan visits Hexagon in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, to see how machines capable of measuring microns are made.
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