Brandon Neer, Tait Stensrud and Matt Redden with Hexagon

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

MD&M West, industrial innovation, medtech automation, manufacturing solutions, quality control, measurement devices, production software, AI integration, CNC machines, reverse engineering, automation, ROI, manufacturing process, Hexagon, news and brews.

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Hey, this episode of Industrial Talk is proudly brought to you by MD&M West and the incredible news and brews team. MD&M West delivered big medtech automation, packaging, plastics and design all came together under one roof, the innovation, the energy, the conversation, it was everything that makes this industry extraordinary. I was on the floor, capturing the stories, the breakthroughs and the leaders who are shaping the future. Thanks for tuning in and celebrating the people driving industrial innovation. Industrial Talk powered by MD&M West and the news and brews team.

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Welcome to the Industrial Talk podcast with Scott Mackenzie. Scott is a passioTait industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard hat, grab your work boots, and let's

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go all right once again. Welcome to Industrial Talk. Thank you very much for joining the number one industrial related podcast in the universe that celebrates you industry professionals all around the world. You are bold, brave, you dare greatly, you innovate, you collaborate. You are solving problems each and every day. That's why we celebrate you on Industrial Talk. You are the heroes in this story. Once again, we are broadcasting from MD and M West here in Anaheim, and we're part of the news and brews crew, and we're just telling the story about all the incredible solutions that exist out there in manufacturing. You walk the halls, and I'm telling you, if you're not here, I'm just advocating the fact that you need to be here, you need to be at MD and M West. And if you're not here at the MD and MS, you're not hanging out with the cool kids, and you're not finding out solutions. So put this on on your calendar. It's brought to you by those wonderful people at Informa. Make that happen. Captain, we have three individuals in the hot seat. We're gonna go down the line Brandon, near Tait Stinson, come on, tell me what the last name Stens, rude stints, rude and then Matt renin. So going forward, let's just sort of make this a pact. I'm going to just just call you from your first names and not really trying to muddle up the whole conversation with your last names. Hey, okay, see, I was getting ready. I was getting ready to violate my first rule and not just throw a question, of course, but, but Brandon,

02:33

yes, sir, are you having a good conference? Yeah, it's been great. The awesome why there's a lot of people here, and the conversations that we've had so far been outstanding. Are you originally from California?

02:44

Yes, sir. Yep. No. I grew up in Barstow. You've been there. I've been I've been through it. You've been through it. You've had a hamburger because you're going to Vegas. Bigger and better things. Danny, having a good conference.

02:57

It's been a fantastic conference. Why it's, it's, I think it's the energy here, we do a lot of trade shows, and you can feel a little bit of a different energy here. There's a hum. It's just been fantastic.

03:09

Yeah, I gotta go to you, Matt, yeah, good job, yeah, don't, don't. It's been okay.

03:15

It's been a great show. You know, you know, connecting with the manufacturers, the big, big big push on MediCal. You know, it's a great to connect with customers, see what's out there, and check out the latest and greatest. I love it.

03:27

I love it, all right, before we get into the old conversation about what Hexagon is doing to solve problems in the market, Brandon, we need to know a little bit about who you are. Talk to us. Chirp at us please.

03:41

Yeah, sounds good. Brandon near, I manage our portable devices sales team, which we'll get into. What that means. I've been with Hexagon for 16 years. Born and raised in California, yeah. Where were you born? In Orange, orange, yep.

03:57

I had a house on Yorba. Linda, yep. Okay, there you go. I was, I was, I was raised in yoga. Linda, so you've been in the business for a little while, yeah, and you've been a part of Hexagon a little while, and you've recognized the fact that Hexagon likes to acquire things.

04:10

You've been through some changes over the 16 years that I've been here. Yes, you can't stop progress. That's all we do is keep evolving.

04:17

Yeah, Tait, give us background.

04:20

My name is Tait Sten drew I've been with Hexagon for 26 years. I manage our stationary device measurement device team in the southwest, similar to Brandon and 26 years been 26 good years here.

04:36

26 more than you, little bit of experience. Yes, more than me the math.

04:43

Wow, that's incredible. Matt, I've been with the company for two years.

04:48

Sound like the rookie over here? I've been with Hexagon for three and a half years. I was close. Yeah, I spent about a decade in machine shots before that. So a lot of hands on experience running machine. And operating machines. I'm with the production software team. So you know, when it comes to CAD CAM solutions, that's kind of my area of expertise. Originally from California, grew up in San Diego and happy to be here there.

05:11

Used to live there. Chandler had a place out in Hey, Susie, what where do we live in Arizona? Where do we? Where do we live? Anthem, oh yeah,

05:24

there you go. Thank you. North, up north of us. It's just a little bit, just a little, yeah, exactly.

05:29

All right, let's get on with the chit chat. About it. My My wife is giving me a hard time here. Let's get on with the chit chat. Talk to us. Brandon, a little bit about the solutions that you provide?

05:41

Yeah, sounds good. Hexagon. Manufacturing intelligence is a subdivision of Hexagon. More a global company that's involved in everything from geospatial to everything else. Our division stems from measurement, sensors and software is where the roots have been with Matt here, who can speak to our production software. It's a third division within the manufacturing intelligence.

06:05

Why is measurements important?

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Yep, everybody needs it. Everybody's been using hand tools for a long time. When they get out of the hand tools and they start to get into higher technical ways to acquire that data, is where Hexagon steps in and really starts everything that's built from automotive to aerospace to medical, needs to be insured for quality, dimensionally or otherwise. That's one subset. But we also do the whole reverse engineering suite, so we can take something from nothing and turn it into digital and make a digital twin of what

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it is. Tait, what about you have? The company starts with an L, and they do a lot of measurements. You guys are. It's a part of Hexagon. Am I? Am I going anywhere with this one? Just say no. Micah, thank you. All right, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Now under the bonus round tape, talk to us a little bit about what your what your Brandon was chirping about. I think Brandon

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very eloquently said it all. It's quality control, it's measurement, it's parts that have to be right and have to be verified before they go into an assembly, which may end up in a heart pump. It may end up on an airplane. It may up on a missile or a spacecraft, those things need to be checked, and they need to be right. That is at the crux of what we do.

07:25

There's lives at risk, and that's not, and that's not just hyperbole,

07:30

yeah, that's stressful, Matt.

07:34

Matt is the solution on the give me an application outside of the fact of high, you know, high quality confidence, all of associated with that. Give me a general use case. Let's say a manufacturing line. Are you hammering on those parts as they come through? Tell me where you plug that solution in

08:01

well, our solution is, you know, one step behind that we're actually made part of the manufacturing process. So we, my division make, you know, it has a critical role in actually making the part. So, you know, a good example specific to this show would be something, you know, with Swiss CNC machines, we're talking, you know, bone plates, bone screws, surgical devices. You know, that's kind of what the production software side of the business will help drive these types of CNC machines. And after we produce the part, that's when it's going to kind of get handed off to the metrology guys who are going to inspect it, verify it, and make sure that you know it's to spec.

08:34

Are you are you doing? Are you doing the CNC manufacture?

08:38

Our software drives the CNC so we sell softwares to manufacturers that actually manufacture the components, you know, in different types of, you know, industries, whether that's medical aerospace.

08:49

Well, here's a funny thing. I will digress real quick.

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In my family, we had a couple of individuals of my brother in law had CNC shops. One of the my brother in law, he just obsessed over CNC stuff, and he was manufacturing dental implants, and he'd come in, it's like, see, look at this thing. It's a little dinky thing, but the precision was just off the charts, absolutely. Hey, Brandon, tell me about a little bit about where you see it going. What's, what's that future look

09:20

like for us? Yeah, it really comes down to doing everything that we've done for the last 50 years, but doing it in a more automated way. So most of the everything that we've done needs some human interaction, and we're really driving towards having full cycle automation, everything from inspection to the reverse engineering like I mentioned before, and being able to do it in an

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automated way. Tait is there a What's the significant ROI on this? It's, you know, there's, there's the the innovation, the technology that you guys provide, which is phenomenal. You know, you go to your booth and you're saying, yeah, that's pretty impressive stuff. It seems pricey. What about that ROI? I want to know. Know that because I'm going to invest that, I want to be able to know that I'm going to get a good return. Yeah.

10:05

I mean, specifically on ROI at a base level, you can talk automation, right? If you, if you do something by hand and you automate it, there's a, there's a base level ROI there. But to me, I think the real value is when you, when you start integrating quality into the manufacturing process, yeah, right. The overall cost of the product comes down because you're reducing future rejects and future regions.

10:28

Have to paint that picture. Yes, you do. Because you I would imagine there could be some potential for sticker shop, yeah. And if you don't paint that picture right,

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and it's not it, it's not something everybody has to do this. You have to inspect things, yep. But the companies that use that data to better their processes, ultimately, the cost of manufacturing that part comes down over time.

10:52

I log in, Matt,

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and maybe this is not to Matt. I'm going, I'm going to just be confident knowing how is, and then I have to say it, and you're Don't roll your I'm gonna make sure that the camera doesn't, is not on you, so that you don't roll your eyes. I need to understand, from Hexagons perspective, how we're looking at AI, improving that measurement capabilities, roll your eyes, get it over with.

11:20

Personally, I can't speak for the measurement capabilities, because, you know, my division is production software, but what I can speak on is how we're integrating AI tools

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into our production software. Talk to us about that now.

11:31

So right now, we're, you know, there's a lot of solutions on the market to kind of assist automate the actual programming process. We're actually, you know, some of our partnerships with, like Microsoft copilot, we're actually going to actually have our AI tools produce commands inside the software itself. So, you know, you can go into your AI engine, basically your chat bot, tell it, hey, can you, you know, set up this part for me.

11:54

Yeah. And holy, I need to be buckled in for this explanation. You just rifled off some stuff. Give me, give me, lay it out in a way that that it makes sense. So I'm a I'm an operator. I did this. And here's the AI, blah, blah, blah to help me, help me go through that.

12:11

So basically, there is a engine that you can ask it a question, ask it

12:15

to got it, I'm pinging that AI, whatever that I'm going, Hey, I got this. And ask it to

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do a command for you, and it'll generate that command for you. So instead of just, you know, giving you a feedback loop of telling you how to do it, now it's going to start actually executing those commands for you.

12:30

So Tait, I can, I can sit there and say, Hey, give me a command. I need a command to be able to do this. And then the AI, let's say bot or or whatever it might be. Well, then just say, Okay, I'll do it. Is that how it works?

12:46

No, you know, it's, I'm glad you brought this question. Yeah, to the podcast. I think it's an important question. I want to, I want to paint it coin a phrase that Tait Stensrud, who's the general manager of a shop in Phoenix, one of the most progressive shops in Phoenix. We just did a symposium about this, and he said, I see it, and we agree with him, by the way, we see AI as the assistant to the programmer, right? Not necessarily, yes. So you know, if you're, you know, on Matt's side, if you were cutting a feature, on our side, if you were measuring a feature, you know, AI, I see it where you can ask it, hey, I've got this situation, and then being able to leverage decades of data Yes, to assist that programmer in that, and

13:30

not just any data, data that I have high confidence in yes,

13:34

that where, that's where I see it going. And Hexagon is at the forefront of that 100%

13:40

I'll add that we're using it too to and almost a visual capability, to be able to look at a part and see geometric features within it that's all trained by AI, to be able to just click on our video camera and say, there's a circle there, and it knows there's a circle there, use that to drive the programming Absolutely.

13:57

Yeah. And I think, to your point, I think you brought up a very interesting position, and that position is one. There is still the necessity for that human component. Absolutely no doubt about it. Can't do it. Can't get away from that. And if you take that position as saying, this is a tool that allows me to be more efficient and be able to execute quicker whatever it might be, then I think you're using the power of, I want a different name for AI. I'm tired of hearing AI. It's like webinars. I'm tired of hearing webinars. I want to I use webcast. I love it, but something that that the analytics are able to be able to spit out something quicker, and again, with a high level of confidence. And again, I think Hexagon is in a position to be able to have that, that network, that data source, that lake, or whatever you want to call it way back here, to be able to draw from that has a high level of confidence that's your ROI that you were talking about, that see, there it is. We got there. You're welcome. You can use this. Yes, podcast, to be able to door to death. All right, how do people get a hold of you guys? Give me, give me. Give me. The best way to get a hold of you guys?

15:12

Yeah, I think the best would be to connect with us on LinkedIn at the Hexagon manufacturing intelligence page, and we're all also individually on there as well.

15:19

100% agreed. LinkedIn. Matt Reddin, over there, yeah, you guys are active out there, right?

15:25

Absolutely, you guys are just that you didn't disappoint. And thank you very much for your flexibility. We're trying to fit more people. You guys are absolutely just, truth be told, I went over there, went over to their shop, and I started shaming them into getting on the podcast.

15:39

And then finally, we did resist a

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You're listening to the Industrial Talk Podcast Network.

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You know what I am. I get excited about conversations that I had at MD&M West and being part of the news and brews crew. You go to this event brought to you by those incredible people at Informa. And you walk the you just walk around, and all you see is solutions, solutions, solving problems, solving challenges. It is an incredible time to be in manufacturing. And then you get to meet people like the Hexagon team. And I've got the cards in front of me because I don't want to mess up. You've got Brandon, Tait and Matt. They were great. They were absolutely and their booth is pretty cool too, and all that technology, yeah, man, you need to put this one on your calendar next year. It's a must. And then, and then, then, part of your to do list, your action plan when you go and walk the floors is to look up the news and brews crew. You will be dazzled. Be you know why? You know why you'd be dazzled is because they're nice people and they're all Tait about you. They're all Tait about what you do. It's a cool conversation. Again, I'm all giddy. I get all giddy. All right. Again, I will always mention this. You need to begin to build that network, and you need to reach out to these gentlemen. The world of manufacturing is happening, and it's, I think it's a Renaissance, and it's and it's growing and it's expanding. You need people like these jets in your corner, so yeah, and, you know, reach out to them, and they're nice, they're cool. You know, they're cool, all right? Once again, we are so Tait here at Industrial Talk to be part of the news and brews crew and be able to broadcast from MD&M West. We it was, it was a barn burner, so it was really great. So we're gonna have a lot more coming from this show. So always stay tuned.