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Tough Challenges for HEXAGON’s New CEO, Anders Svensson – But the Group is Standing Strong in Autonomous Technology, PLM and CAM

UNEXPECTED CHOICE OF OLA ROLLÉN, BUT HEXAGON's SO HAS SURPRISED BEFORE… Last week's most interesting news on the leadership front in digital industrial technology, automation, PLM, and EAM was undoubtedly Hexagon's recruitment of Konecranes CEO, Anders Svensson, to the role of President and CEO. Svensson, who has been leading the material handling group Konecrane for about two years, will take the helm on July 20 and replace acting CEO, Norbert Hanke. The latter had to step in as a temporary leader when Paolo Guglielmini who, in November 2024, after barely two years in the post, had to leave the job.
A general observation is that it isn’t entirely easy to find a replacement who can live up to and match Ola Rollén's exceptionally dynamic and entrepreneurial leadership. During his 20-year tenure as CEO, which ended 2022, Hexagon developed from a disparate industrial conglomerate with questionable growth prospects into a successful international technology group with revenues of approximately $5.5 billion.
Above all, the growth was built on advanced metrology equipment, sensors, software and digital industrial production technology with a portfolio consisting of both hardware and software. Through the acquisition of a large number of companies and brands, the group grew into a world player in digital reality solutions, combining sensor, software and autonomous technologies. Among the acquisitions are Brown & Sharpe (Metrology) and Leica Geosystems (Geomatics). In the PLM and EAM areas, the purchases of Intergraph (3D CAD, Advanced Process Engineering), MSC Software (Simulation & Analysis/CAE), Vero Software (CAM, including EdgeCAM), DP Technology (CAM, Esprit) and Infor (EAM, Enterprise Asset Management) stand out. Hexagon actually bought more than 150 companies during Rollén's years as executive manager.
The man who has now taken on the challenges that come with the leadership position at Hexagon, Anders Svensson, comes from Finnish Konecranes, where he has been President and CEO since October 2022. Before his current role, Svensson has held senior positions within Sandvik since 2008. Most recently as CEO of Sandvik Rock Processing Solutions and member of Sandvik's Group Management. Incidentally, a group where Ola Rollén himself worked when he became CEO of Sandvik Stål (today Sandvik Materials Technology) in 1999.
"Anders Svensson has a strong track record of leadership experience, improved corporate culture, customer focus and delivery of strong growth and improved profitability. Under his leadership, Hexagon will be well positioned to capture the significant opportunities ahead," says Ola Rollén, now Hexagon's Chairman of the Board.
Svensson himself comments on his new job by saying that he joins the company at an exciting time:
"With market-leading positions in both sensors and software, a history of innovation and a strong industrial culture, Hexagon is uniquely positioned to capture disruptive growth opportunities in areas such as autonomy, robotics, digital twins and the application of AI," he says.
Among the challenges are targets for very aggressive growth and, not least, driving forward Hexagon's plans to spin off the Asset Lifecycle Intelligence (ALI) division.

During his two-year tenure at the helm of Konecranes, Anders Svensson ”has ensured that the company has updated its strategy and significantly improved its results,” says Chairman of the Board Pasi Laine in a statement.

This is, of course, results that appealed to Ola Rollén and well in line with what Hexagon’s chairman of the board said he was looking for during a conference call in connection with Paolo Guglielmini’s departure in 2024. He stated at the time that they wanted an executive leader who could drive large projects and, ”create growth in the company’s topline (turnover)” and ”expand profit margins.”

Not an easy journey – but Hexagon has good foundations to stand on
However this is to be done, it is not an easy journey at a time when many of the old production industry truths are being turned on their heads, not least related to what is happening in AI and on the sustainability side. But it is clear that the Hexagon that Ola Rollén executively led and which was then continued first, perhaps less successfully, by Paolo Guglielmini and then in a more interim perspective by Norbert Hanke, has taken a number of important steps to ensure that it possess the basic arsenal required to be competitive in the battle for the industrial process and manufacturing production of the future.

Parenthetically, it can be noted that Ola Rollén highlighted Hanke’s efforts in his comments in the press materials regarding Hexagon’s now announced top position changes:

”I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Norbert Hanke for his continued commitment to Hexagon, most recently as acting CEO and Group President,” he said.

In any case, Hexagon’s broadening of perspectives within industrial technology during the past decade is impressive. This in everything from the initial focus on metrology, geomatics, sensor, and CAD areas to encompassing the development and integration of e.g. sub-PLM pieces such as CAM (machining technology/CNC code generation), simulation and analysis (MSC), EAM (Infor) and related solutions for the management, control and maintenance of physical industrial facilities, in everything from complex process industries like oil refineries to smart production in factories.

So, let’s look at some insights into trends and development lines that Hexagon is facing.

Engineers looking at a digital twin of an aircraft engine. With a digital twin, manufacturers can design and test products, processes, and even complete production lines. Digital twins are representations of complex systems that give engineers more freedom than ever before. Digital representations can include artificial intelligence (AI) and real-world measurements, such as machine sensor data, to improve simulations. Data input can come from anywhere in the production process and beyond. With the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), cloud computing and concepts such as a digital product passport on the horizon, the potential data sources can be countless. The benefits of this technology vary depending on the different contexts in each industry, but the potential is enormous.

Digital twins, AI and sustainability requirements are changing the industry world
What we are seeing happening right now at a historically furious pace is not at all a matter of superficial, evolutionary industrial changes. With developments in the field of digital product development, automation, AI or with sustainability and net-zero capabilities, the often misused term, “revolution”, comes to mind. How so?

Earlier industrial manufacturing was, in some cases it still is, a matter of manual unintegrated step-by-step work. Today we’re talking about digital, automated processes. When the development team is finished with the design they can  simply “slide in” a digital twin of the 3D developed product into another digital twin of not only the production line, but also of the individual machines and equipment that build it up; machines that automatically will carry out the manufacturing work. It is not longer an imagination that you can use the digital twin of the product that has been created as a basis for the manufacturing process, where it “itself”, based on the product development and design work, can decide which CNC machine and tools should be used, how it should be rigged–probably by robots–and determine which material is the most suitable from a sustainability and cost perspective.

Example of interfaces and a phase scaling in the EdgeCAM solution (version 2024) purchased by Hexagon in 2014, which came about as a result of the acquisition of Vero Software.

Or consider what global competition today requires in terms of complex and flow-optimized plants, which produce as much as possible with as few stops as possible. In a perfect world, this works flawlessly, but reality is rarely perfect. Even small operational disruptions can have major consequences. But by working with preventive, predictive maintenance, you can carry out measures during planned stops, which can improve operational reliability and in turn reduce the risk of unexpected interruptions. In this, data collection, analyses, predictive maintenance models and standardized action programs are of great importance in providing increased control over data collection and action programs.

Today, in this context the needed type of solution falls within the framework of what is often called “closed-loop manufacturing concepts” (CLM). This can mean working with an automatic control system in which the operational control, process or mechanism is regulated by fed-back operating data. In a state-of-the-art production line, for example, one can imagine an IIoT-connected (Industrial IoT) platform that captures all operating data from a production line and continuously checks this against predetermined templates of what the production output should look like. Potentially, such a system can be built so that it tells where, when and how a preventive maintenance action ideally should be carried out. Additionally, it can also be able to raise alarms in the event of deviations, define the problem and suggest or even perform relevant measures.

Hexagon has long worked to develop solutions in line with processes similar to those described above. As mentioned, the group has also invested heavily in technologies that have added sophisticated capabilities to the systems it already had, all in order to ultimately be able to offer this type of platform to the world’s industries. In this, Hexagon stands on strong foundations. The company’s Nexus platform is a great example: It is a digital reality solution for manufacturers that connects people, technology, and data to accelerate innovation and bring ideas to life faster than ever before.  

Hexagon’s acquisition of Infor EAM, today HxGN EAM, is an important aspect of IT support for smart and intelligent factory and process industry facilities.

Smart investment in EAM
But there’s more. The wise EAM investment with Hexagon’s purchase of Infors EAM software, today called HxGN EAM, is another example of industrial insights and proactive action. How so?
In this case, visionary and holistic thinking is an overall factor of great importance. Perhaps even greater than one might think. Anyone who aims to build a future system puts into this perspective a puzzle with a visual overall picture, where the aim is to step by step fill in missing gaps with concrete puzzle pieces. For this reason, the visionary does not actually buy specifically one or the other software, but rather components that functionally fill in the gaps where puzzle pieces are missing, integrate them and create new wholes.

From this point of view, Hexagon’s acquisition of Infor EAM (HxGN EAM) – which generally is about planning, operation and maintenance of primarily factories and process-based industrial facilities – was an important aspect of supporting the development of the smart and intelligent facilities of the future. The group’s Intelligent Manufacturing and Asset Lifecycle divisions already had a range of solutions for various areas included in intelligent factory systems, such as plant design, simulation, CAM/CNC software for machining, metrology (various forms of measurement), and more. In this overall picture, a sharp, eventually fully integrated EAM solution fit like a glove. The direction of travel is now also a general development from EAM towards Asset Performance Management (APM).

In view of this the trend is pointing towards holistic solutions that are interconnected and subjects to what AI ​​area can offer in terms of intelligent process enhancements.
It is these future visions that Hexagon have in mind and regard as the ground for tools and modular function and service packages they want to offer the industrial market.

The spin-off of the ALI division

How the EAM and APM pieces in Hexagon will develop remains to be seen; not least in light of Hexagon’s declared desire to investigate the possibilities of spinning off the ALI division.

As mentioned, Anders Svensson’s assignment also includes Hexagon’s ongoing evaluation of the possibilities of spinning off the Asset Lifecycle Intelligence business. This part is also expected to include the ETQ business (currently operating under the Manufacturing Intelligence division), as well as the Bricsys business (currently operating under the Geosystems division) and the Utilities & Infrastructure business, which is currently being transferred to ALI from the Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial division.

The possible spin-off company would, based on what is planned to be put into the business, have approximately 5,000 employees and revenues of just under one billion euros, equivalent to around 11 billion kronor.

A separation of the ALI division would be intended to create two scaled public companies with distinct operational strategies and financial profiles that establish differentiated positioning for investors to fully utilize the capacity and potential of each platform.

Hexagon’s path under Ola Rollén’s leadership has certainly surprised many. Few believed that he would be able to boast of being the world’s CAM king until the giant purchase of Vero Software in 2014 and DP Technology in 2020. But things have been going well and Hexagon is one of the world leaders in CAM.

Rollén’s path has surprised – who does Anders Svensson?
That said, it should be noted that the Manufacturing Intelligence division is one of the key areas for Hexagon. When it comes to vehicle production, for example, there are major challenges that concern Hexagon: for example, how to meet developments as the next generation of vehicles is now taking shape. Of particular interest is the development where software is at the center. The concepts surrounding software-defined vehicles (SDVs) are putting heavy pressure on development teams in the automotive industry to deliver increasingly capable solutions. In short, ADAS (Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems) and autonomous vehicle systems mean an almost exponential increase in the need to integrate more sensors, more and more advanced data chips and operating systems that apply complex AI and software algorithms. This has several tough effects and it is not uncommon for software development and testing to create bottlenecks that delay vehicle launches and feature deployment. Hexagon is very relevant as a provider of solutions in this area and, as PLM&ERP News recently reported, Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division has introduced a new cloud-based SaaS service for testing, training and validating ADAS and autonomous vehicle systems. Virtual Test Drive X (VTDx), as the solution is called, uses hyperscale computing and automation and enables the automotive industry to automatically validate software quality and functionality against thousands of real-world scenarios, saving a lot of time to secure innovations. This SaaS solution looks strong with its capacity to utilize the power of cloud computing and with the automation solutions in Hexagon’s Nexus platform. Software teams can build rigorous testing into their continuous testing and integration workflows for ADAS and autonomous vehicle systems.

In short, the ADAS solution described above is just one example of challenges and solutions; there are a number of interesting threads to grab hold of within Hexagon’s rich flora of industrial technology solutions.

The company’s choice of path under Ola Rollén’s leadership has certainly surprised many. For example, few believed that he would be able to become the world’s CAM king until the giant purchases of Vero Software in 2014 and DP Technology in 2020 took place. The element of surprise appears to be a hallmark, but things have been going well and Hexagon is one of the world leaders in CAM, by the way in tough competition from the Swedish global industrial giant, Sandvik Group.

The question now is what Anders Svensson’s choice of path for Hexagon into the future looks like.

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