Hexagon Unveils Mold and Die Suite for Streamlined Manufacturing
Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division has announced the release of HxGN Mould & Die, a suite of dedicated CAD/CAM (computer-aided design and manufacturing), engineering, and automation tools empowering mould and die and tool manufacturers to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and produce high-quality tools for their customers across industries ranging from automotive to aerospace and beyond. The suite was developed to empower mould designers and makers to achieve operational excellence in the design and manufacturing of plastic injection moulds, progressive dies, forming dies, and similar tools.
Capabilities of the suite include CAD/CAE (computer-aided design and engineering) for plastic injection mould design, CAD/CAE for progressive die design, CAD for manufacturing preparation, CAM for CNC (computer numerical code) machine-tool programming, process simulation and G-code verification and optimisation, shop-floor production intelligence, and automation and collaboration powered by Nexus, Hexagon’s digital-reality platform. The suite’s simulation tools help manufacturers understand the feasibility and cost of mould-making processes with actionable information.
Chuck Mathews, general manager, production software at Hexagon said, “We took everything we know about mould-and-die manufacturing, including our best-in-class Hexagon technologies, to build a specialised suite that empowers mould and die shops of any size to get the best results faster. Their competitive edge will be enhanced Nexus, which connects desktop software via the cloud to provide further automation and collaboration opportunities. It also gives teams an easy way to share 3D models with customers through secure web-based visualisation, and consolidate access to libraries for tooling, fixtures, and materials from their desktop apps.”
Parth Joshi, chief product & technology officer at Hexagon said, “The HxGN Mould and Die suite is an exciting development, combining our customers’ challenges with our deep domain knowledge to achieve more. We are refocussing innovation to bring our ecosystem technologies together and help production teams make better informed decisions, faster”.
For plastic-injection mould manufacturers, the suite provides tools for design and engineering, flow simulation, reverse engineering, automated electrode design, and CNC machining. It builds upon Hexagon’s market-leading VISI and WORKNC software, providing comprehensive multi-axis CAM programming capabilities, direct modelling of solids and surfaces, and supports the construction, editing, and repair of complex 3D geometry. Reverse engineering tools allow mould makers to efficiently create solid models from scanned data — a crucial capability for mould repair and redesign, and for creating solid models for manufacturing when CAD files are not available.
