November 30, 2018 -- InnovMetric Software Inc., the leading provider of universal 3D metrology software solutions, today announced the launch of the PolyWorks Collaborative Suite. This new software solution provides a complete and efficient digital data storage solution to manage all 3D measurement data. It also promises to significantly increase product-development efficiency by digitally interconnecting quality-control and product-engineering teams, and providing them with real-time access to all 3D measurement data.

“InnovMetric is renowned for its PolyWorks® Metrology Suite, the universal 3D metrology software platform used by industrial manufacturing organizations worldwide as their standard tool for dimensional analysis and quality-control tasks,” said Marc Soucy, President of InnovMetric. He continued, “Working closely with our customers allowed InnovMetric to observe the shortcomings of their data management practices and teamwork interactions. Today, after 7 years of research and development, strengthened by fruitful collaboration with key customers, we are proud to launch the Collaborative Suite, an entirely new solution designed to assist our customers in their transition to modern digital collaboration workflows, in line with Industry 4.0 best practices.”

The new Collaborative Suite will initially consist of two digital collaboration products: PolyWorks|DataLoop™ and PolyWorks|PMI+Loop™.

Digitally interconnecting users of 3D measurement data with  PolyWorks|DataLoop ™

Over the past 15 years, industrial manufacturing organizations have discovered that 3D measurement devices are particularly useful during the product-development phase, because the design of the parts and the associated fabrication tools are constantly evolving. Today, with the rapidly increasing use of 3D measurement technologies at all stages of the product-engineering and fabrication processes, these organizations are struggling with the management and sharing of a panoply of large data files resulting from acquired 3D measurements, metrology analysis, and reporting results. Most users store inspection projects on their local hard drives and manually exchange files over a network or using USB sticks, with the inefficiencies and potential for mistakes that are inherent with such methods.

To solve these data-management issues and digitally interconnect all users of 3D measurement data, InnovMetric now offers the PolyWorks|DataLoop digital data storage solution that stores, manages, and shares PolyWorks inspection and reverse-engineering projects using a customer’s existing PLM solution. It also offers a universal Web interface to monitor, visualize, and analyze the 3D metrology contents stored on the PLM from any PC or mobile device. InnovMetric has chosen to connect to existing customer PLM systems because they offer all the required technical characteristics and they are already used by a significant number of PolyWorks customers. 

Transforming traditional waterfall measurement planning into a bidirectional collaborative process with  PolyWorks|PMI+Loop ™

The Collaborative Suite will also offer a second product to extend digital connectivity to the design team and implement bidirectional collaborative measurement planning processes. Today, design and manufacturing teams use either 2D prints or 3D CAD models with Product Manufacturing Information (PMI) to define 3D measurement plans that are used by quality-control specialists to inspect parts and tools. However, when modifications to the measurement plans are made by the quality-control specialists, they have no way to easily feed their changes back to the design team.

PolyWorks|PMI+Loop ensures complete interoperability and bidirectionality between PolyWorks and the customer’s existing CAD platform. It offers CAD software add-ins that provide the capability to:

• Create and review PolyWorks 3D measurement plans within their existing CAD environment
• Import measurement plans modified within PolyWorks directly back into the CAD software

PolyWorks : The smart 3D metrology digital ecosystem

Combining the Metrology Suite and the Collaborative Suite, PolyWorks now offers software solutions that cover all 3D metrology-related enterprise processes. From the acquisition of 3D measurement data, to the analysis and sharing of 3D measurements results within an entire manufacturing organization, PolyWorks is a smart 3D metrology ecosystem that provides: 

• A  universal platform that interfaces with any type of 3D metrology measurement device, offers a universal workflow for performing all inspection tasks, and allows deploying universal inspection projects that can be played on any device.
• Digital connectivity that interconnects all the teams involved in the product development process and injects 3D measurement information into the key enterprise software systems (such as Product Lifecycle Management, Product Data Management, Computer-Assisted Design).
• Bidirectional workflows that maximize teamwork efficiency by eliminating traditional waterfall processes.

For more information or to evaluate a Collaborative Suite product, contact InnovMetric or its network of Master distributors.