Transforming quality inspection with high-speed, connected measurement workflows,
Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division has launched Maestro, an all-new, next-generation coordinate measuring machine (CMM) engineered from the ground up to meet the rising productivity demands of modern manufacturing. Designed to combat the global skills shortages and increasing quality requirements, Hexagon says “Maestro sets a new standard for speed, simplicity, and digital integration in metrology”.
Expanding on Hexagon’s heritage of metrology excellence, Maestro was designed with four principles inn mind — to be fast, easy to use, connected and scalable. Its digital-first architecture offers the industry rapid measurement routines, an intuitive user experience and seamless data integration. With modular software and hardware, it is designed to scale with evolving production needs, making it ideal for aerospace, automotive, and high-precision manufacturing environments where there is a high demand for accuracy to deliver safety, compliance, and performance.
Building on Hexagon’s extensive global metrology expertise, Maestro features a newly developed digital architecture, incorporating digital sensors, a single cable system, and a completely new controller with brand new firmware. Together, these new capabilities increase throughput, streamline the complete measurement operation, and ensure future-ready connectivity for modern production environments.
Reliable resultsCustomers will benefit from unmatched precision at speed — Maestro’s redesigned mechanical structure, single-cable digital platform, and advanced sensors enable fast measurement with sub-micron tolerances that satisfy stringent industry standards. Customers gain the confidence of repeatable, certified measurements for critical quality control. This provides reliable results, even for complex shapes and the most demanding applications.
Maestro also delivers industry-leading throughput via high-speed motion while maintaining exceptional precision. Synchronised axis movements, rapid calibration, and cloud-connected software significantly accelerate setup, programming, execution, and reporting.
Meawhile, Maestro remasters quality inspection by simplifying CMM programming and streamlining workflows. An intuitive user interface, combined with next-generation cloud-native metrology apps powered by Hexagon’s Nexus platform, enable both expert metrologists and less-specialised operators to generate repeatable, standard-compliant measurements effortlessly and without the need for coding.
Designed as a native Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) measuring device, Maestro integrates into Hexagon’s Nexus ecosystem, sharing real-time data across design, production, and quality teams, driving data-driven decision-making and improving overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). Near-line or in-line integration with automation systems is seamless.
Another stand-out feature is its modular design and robust roadmap for future upgrades — Maestro is built for scalability. Manufacturers can easily update software, sensors, and additional capabilities over time, ensuring that their investment remains future-proofed and continuously supports evolving production needs.
High-accuracy inspectionJörg Deller, general manager of stationary metrology devices at Hexagon, said: “Manufacturers told us they needed a next-generation system that tackles rising quality demands and skills shortages. By rethinking our hardware and software from the ground up, rather than iterating on existing systems, we have had the freedom to create a high-accuracy inspection solution that is so intuitive that anyone from expert to new hires become significantly more productive. Meeting the needs of industry head-on, Maestro’s digital backbone also makes it straightforward to integrate into modern connected factories, so stakeholders can improve quality quickly and definitively.”
Early adopters have reported dramatic productivity gains and reduced inspection lead times, helping to avoid production bottlenecks and to keep pace with fast-changing customer requirements. Customers have tested various sensors, ranging from high-speed laser scanning to tactile probes, with consistently strong results in both R&D and production applications.
Hexagon’s software tools and services such as ‘PC-DMIS’ and the ‘Metrology Mentor’, ‘Metrology Asset Manager’, and ‘Metrology Reporting Nexus Apps’ were developed in tandem with Maestro to create an integrated system that significantly boosts productivity from part-loading to analysis, compared to isolated component solutions. The end goal is to deliver ease of use and fast workflows, from programming, execution and usage, to reporting and collaboration with colleagues in design and manufacturing.
Maestro will be offered initially in multiple sizes and configurations, each engineered for automated multi-sensor workflows utilising tactile probes and laser scanning probes from a new ‘digital rack’ that tracks occupancy status, sensor supply health and status that can be accessed on-device and throughout the desktop and cloud-native apps. Additional future-ready models and enhancements will follow, all based on a single, coherent platform. Maestro will be available for order from 30 June.