Innovative Software Links CAD Data with Inspection on Measuring Machines

North Kingstown, RI – April 20, 2010 – Wilcox Associates, Inc., a Hexagon Metrology company, announced today the release of the new-to-the-market PC-DMIS Planner software. The groundbreaking toolset improves the flow of information between the design department, which designs parts in the virtual CAD world, and the engineering departments who manage the quality control function and inspect "as-built" parts in the real world. PC-DMIS Planner was developed to create a formalized and two-directional data flow between a CAD model and its related inspection part programs. In many companies today, design modifications such as tolerance adjustments are communicated downstream through informal methods such as a phone call or a marked-up drawing. PC-DMIS Planner automates these communication links so CAD file revisions can be electronically communicated to quality control…keeping all departments in sync.

"PC-DMIS Planner automates one of the last significant disconnects in manufacturing," said Joe Zink, product manager for PC-DMIS Planner. "We have great tools to design parts using 3D CAD, and we have powerful tools to inspect parts using 3D CAD. But the missing link was a vehicle to enable these two worlds to communicate changes to each other. Additions, deletions and changes to a CAD model are often dealt with using ad-hoc methods prone to error. PC-DMIS Planner is a solution designed to formally communicate new information, automatically identify the specific impact to inspection programs, and keep an ongoing record of all changes."

The design engineer can use PC-DMIS Planner to identify and embed information about critical characteristics in a planning file that is associated with the product's CAD file. PC-DMIS Planner offers Direct CAD Interface technology, which interfaces directly to the CAD model in the original CAD database, so updated planning files can be easily associated with updated CAD files. Change Management tools within PC-DMIS Planner allow the user to identify changes to an original part model or inspection plan, and provide fast and easy methods to update part programs based on the new information.

PC-DMIS Planner is available as a standalone module that works within the PC-DMIS 2010 Enterprise Metrology suite of products. The software is compatible with all editions of PC-DMIS for all types of hardware ? from CMMs to vision machines to portable devices to machine tools. More information can be found on www.PC-DMIS.com

About Wilcox Associates, Inc.

Wilcox Associates, Inc., is the developer of PC-DMIS, and a wholly owned-subsidiary of Hexagon Metrology. PC-DMIS is the industry's most popular dimensional metrology software, with well over 30,000 licenses. More information can be found at www.PC-DMIS.com

About Hexagon Metrology

Hexagon Metrology serves the high precision measurement and inspection needs of worldwide manufacturers with its extensive line of metrology hardware, software, accessories, and customer services. The company's name-brand portfolio of quality assurance products include Brown & Sharpe, CogniTens, Leica Geosystems, ROMER, Sheffield, PC-DMIS, DEA, Leitz, and TESA. Hexagon Metrology has an unrivaled installed base of more than 1.5 million handheld, stationary and portable measurement devices. More information is at www.HexagonMetrology.us

The company is a subsidiary of Hexagon Measurement Technologies, a business unit of Hexagon AB (Nacka Strand, Sweden), a publicly-traded company (OMX Nordic: HEXA B). The Hexagon group consists of nearly 8,200 employees located in 30 countries.