Aktuellt på ENGINEERING.com: PLM, Smart Factories and Hexagon’s Holistic Vision for Asset Management

Last year, Hexagon’s CEO Ola Rollén made the decision to acquire ERP developer Infor's Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solution. Today, the solution is called HxGN EAM. But Rollén did not buy Infor’s EAM software simply to acquire a solution for maintenance management of industrial facilities, or for a larger customer base. There is something bigger in the tall grass: specifically, that the $2.7 billion he invested was to gain a component for a broader industrial system which could eventually contribute to his vision of integrated tools. This integration of these tools would include everything from plant and factory design solutions, to a seamlessly connected chain of product development, manufacturing, factory maintenance and operational performance software and hardware. In short, the goal is a platform for intelligent product development, and the "last mile" of such a solution is contained in the pieces that Infor EAM would add: maintenance management, performance control, and factory and machine economy.
Ola Rollén saw a path towards expanding EAM, on the journey towards Asset Performance Management (APM). But neither the EAM nor the APM aspects should be seen as isolated phenomena. Rather, Rollén's vision seems to lie within a bigger picture where various domains—PLM, ERP, automation, factory optimization and EAM/maintenance—increasingly extend into each other's territory. Nothing stands on its own for those who want to create a sharp, future-proof product development platform. Integration is the password, and the trend is moving towards broader, federative platforms and exchangeable modules of software.
Hexagon has set this journey in motion, manifested in the recent launch of the company's Asset Lifecycle Intelligence division of the SaaS-based HxGN EAM, version 12. This is the second major launch since Hexagon acquired the business in October 2021.
Click on the link below this intro to read Verdi Ogewell's full article on www.ENGINEERING. com.