Hexagon launches APOLLO for metrology asset monitoring
Summary
Hexagon has introduced APOLLO, a metrology asset monitoring platform that tracks coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) and machine tools for condition and performance data. The system supports both cloud and on-premises deployment, giving manufacturers flexibility based on their IT infrastructure and data governance requirements. A key capability is predictive fault detection, with Hexagon claiming the platform can identify potential equipment issues up to 90 days before failure.
Why It Matters
Unplanned downtime on CMMs and machine tools carries direct costs in scrapped parts, missed inspection throughput, and production delays — a CMM sitting offline during a critical inspection cycle can halt an entire production line if in-process verification is blocked. A 90-day early-warning window, if it holds up in practice across diverse shop floor environments, would shift maintenance from reactive or time-based scheduled intervals to genuinely condition-based intervention, reducing both emergency repair costs and unnecessary preventive maintenance labor. The on-premises deployment option is notable because many aerospace, defense, and medical device manufacturers operate under strict data sovereignty and export control requirements that make cloud-first tools a hard sell; giving those facilities a local deployment path removes a significant adoption barrier. For quality and manufacturing engineering teams, centralizing asset health data across multiple CMMs or machine tool spindles also creates an audit trail that can support calibration records and equipment qualification documentation under ISO 17025 or IATF 16949 frameworks.