Actionable information Hexagon

ACTIONABLE INFORMATION

Hexagon is focused on providing its customers with the most innovative design, measurement and visualisation technologies to help them stay one step ahead in a fast-changing world.

Founded in 1975, Sweden’s Hexagon is a leading global provider of design, measurement and visualisation technologies that enable customers to increase productivity, enhance quality and make better operational decisions that save time, money and resources. With Hexagon technologies they can design, measure and position objects and process and present data in ways which make possible what the company calls ‘actionable information’. Following ten years of rapid growth, Hexagon now has over 12,500 employees in more than 40 countries and net sales of around €2200m. Its products are used worldwide in industries such as surveying, power and energy, aerospace and defence, safety and security, construction and manufacturing.

Hexagon has achieved its present leading position through a strategy of aggressive acquisition; since 2000 the Group has implemented some 70 acquisitions while at the same time divesting around 50 noncore businesses. The company continuously monitors large numbers of acquisition candidates, which are regularly evaluated financially, technologically and commercially. Every candidate’s potential is determined on the basis of synergy simulations and implementation strategies.

In mid-2010 Hexagon made one of the most significant acquisitions in its history with the purchase of the US-based software company Intergraph. Headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, and employing some 4000 people in 34 countries, Intergraph is a leading global provider of enterprise engineering software and geospatially powered solutions that enable customers to visualise and manage complex data. The acquisition has enabled Hexagon to seamlessly connect the real world with maps or drawings. With Intergraph it can now cover all aspects of the design, measurement and visualisation technology market, from capturing three-dimensional data from ground, air and space, through processing that data to creating, managing and delivering information via GIS and CAD solutions.

Commenting on the acquisition, Ola Rollen, the president and CEO of Hexagon, said, “With Intergraph’s technology Hexagon can add a market-leading software platform to its offering. In combination with our global resources and competencies, the opportunities for creating innovative new client solutions are virtually limitless.”

Three divisions

The Measurement Technologies business unit of Hexagon operates through three applications areas: Geosystems, Metrology and Technology. The systems offered by Geosystems capture, reference, analyse, process and store geographical information, allowing this data, in many cases, to be presented as 3D images. These solutions are used by customers involved in essential infrastructure projects such as the preparation, execution and monitoring of roads, bridges, railroads, airports and ports. Geosystems’ solutions include a wide variety of laser measuring tools and equipment for the construction industry as well as specialised software and fleet management services for the construction, road maintenance and piste maintenance industries. It operates

through eleven companies, including many, such as Leica Geosystems, Cable Detection, GeoMax and Mikrofyn, that are well-known to the construction industry throughout the world.

Hexagon Metrology supplies systems for manufacturing evaluation, process qualification and final parts inspection. Customers use these systems to boost productivity and enhance efficiency by measuring exactly every step in the manufacturing process in order to reduce or eliminate defects. They are thus able to fully control manufacturing processes that rely on dimensional precision to ensure that products manufactured conform precisely to the original product design. Hexagon Metrology’s leading brands, which include Brown & Sharpe, Cognitens, DEA, Leica Geosystems (Metroloogy Division), Leitz, m&h Inprocess Messtechnik, Optiv, PC-DMIS, QUINDOS, ROMER and TESA, represent an unrivalled base of millions of coordinate measuring machines, portable measuring systems and hand-held instruments as well as tens of thousands of metrology software licences.

Hexagon Technology provides enterprise engineering software and geospatially powered solutions as well as the industry’s most comprehensive line of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) products. Among its member companies, Erdas, for example, creates geospatial business systems that transform data on the earth into business information while NovAtel produces precision GNSS components and subsystems, including receivers, antennas, enclosures and firmware. Its applications include surveying, GIS mapping, precision agriculture machine guidance, port automation as well as in the mining, marine and defence industries. NovAtel’s reference receivers are also at the core of national aviation ground networks in the USA, Japan, Europe, China and India.

Intergraph is now also a member of the Technology business area. Its software and services enable customers to build and operate more efficient plants and ships, create intelligent maps and protect critical infrastructure around the world.

In 2011 Hexagon acquired the Brazilian software and services company Sisgraph, which has been providing sales, consulting, implementation and training services for all Intergraph products in Latin America since 1980. Ole Rollen said, “For our Power, Process and Marine business we see many opportunities related to the exploration and production of Brazil’s massive offshore oil reserves.”

Hexagon is continuing its search for companies that can add new technologies and know-how to the Group. At the beginning of 2012 it acquired the leading Canadian surveying and mapping software developer MicroSurvey. Headquartered in British Columbia, MicroSurvey provides innovative software solutions for the land surveying, construction and forensic markets.

“The acquisition of MicroSurvey expands Hexagon’s product offerings and software development capabilities for several of our key markets,” said Olla Rollen. “The ability to offer such comprehensive, market-leading and innovative solutions will undoubtedly benefit both current and future customers of Hexagon.” n