Hexagon's AI Play: A Bid to End Manufacturing Downtime

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN – December 16, 2025 – In a strategic move that underscores the accelerating race toward autonomous manufacturing, Hexagon AB announced today its acquisition of IconPro, a German industrial AI specialist. While the financial terms remain undisclosed, the deal's significance lies not in its immediate balance sheet impact but in the critical capabilities it brings to Hexagon's vast portfolio of industrial technology. By integrating IconPro's predictive maintenance software, Hexagon aims to tackle one of the most persistent and costly problems in modern manufacturing: unplanned downtime.

This acquisition brings IconPro's flagship 'Apollo' software into the fold of Hexagon's Manufacturing Intelligence division, a global leader in metrology and quality control solutions. The initial focus will be on embedding this AI-driven intelligence into Hexagon's stationary Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMMs), the high-precision workhorses that ensure parts meet exacting specifications in industries from aerospace to automotive.

The AI Engine for the Smart Factory

For decades, maintenance has been a reactive discipline. A machine fails, production halts, and technicians scramble to fix it. The evolution to preventative maintenance, based on fixed schedules, was an improvement but often resulted in unnecessary servicing or missed impending failures. IconPro represents the next leap forward: predictive maintenance.

Founded in 2018 as a spin-off from the prestigious Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering of RWTH Aachen University, IconPro developed its Apollo platform to act as a central nervous system for factory equipment. The software ingests a constant stream of data from machine sensors—monitoring vibration, temperature, sound, and operational states—and applies machine learning algorithms to detect subtle anomalies and patterns that precede a failure. Instead of waiting for an alarm, Apollo predicts when service will be required, allowing maintenance to be scheduled proactively with minimal disruption.

The impact for users of Hexagon's CMMs could be transformative. These complex instruments are vital quality gates; if a CMM goes down, the entire production line can grind to a halt. By integrating Apollo, Hexagon will offer customers not just a measurement device, but an intelligent, self-monitoring asset. The system will be able to alert operators days or weeks in advance of a potential component failure, turning costly emergency repairs into routine, scheduled service. This directly addresses the market's demand for increased operational efficiency and asset availability, a promise that has already won IconPro customers like Festo and MTU Aero Engines.

A Strategic Piece in an Autonomous Puzzle

Viewed in isolation, the acquisition of a company with projected 2026 revenues of just €2 million might seem minor for a giant like Hexagon. However, when placed within the context of Hexagon's long-term strategy, the move is clearly a pivotal one. The company has been methodically assembling the building blocks for what it calls "Autonomous Connected Ecosystems." This vision involves creating a seamless digital thread from product design and engineering through to production and quality inspection.

This acquisition follows a pattern of strategic technology buys, including the 2021 purchase of AI simulation firm CADLM and the more recent acquisition of 3D Systems' Geomagic software suite for processing 3D scan data. Each piece adds a layer of intelligence and automation to the ecosystem. The fact that IconPro was already considered a "main external partner for our AI strategy," according to a pre-acquisition testimonial from a Hexagon executive, suggests this integration will be swift and synergistic. The connection is further deepened by the presence of a former founder of Q-DAS—a quality assurance software firm Hexagon acquired in 2015—on IconPro's advisory board.

"Acquiring IconPro aligns with our strategy to empower manufacturers with data-driven intelligence," said Anders Svensson, President & CEO of Hexagon, in the official announcement. "IconPro's expertise enables us to deliver smarter services that help our customers optimise their operations and reduce downtime, ultimately advancing their journey towards autonomous manufacturing." The message to the market is clear: Hexagon is investing in the software and AI brains that will make its hardware smarter, more autonomous, and indispensable to the factory of the future.

Redrawing the Competitive Landscape

The industrial AI and predictive maintenance market is a hotly contested space, with giants like Siemens, Rockwell Automation, and GE Digital vying for dominance. The market for AI-driven predictive maintenance alone is projected to surge past $50 billion by 2035. In this crowded field, Hexagon's acquisition of IconPro is a calculated move to differentiate itself.

Rather than offering a general-purpose industrial IoT platform, Hexagon is embedding specialized AI directly into its core metrology products. This creates a powerful, closed-loop system where the very machines that verify quality are also predicting their own maintenance needs. "This move is less about competing on broad platforms and more about creating a deeply integrated, high-value solution for a critical manufacturing function," noted one industry analyst. "It transforms their hardware from a simple tool into an intelligent partner in the production process."

This strategy also directly addresses a growing crisis in manufacturing: the shortage of skilled labor. Experienced metrologists and CMM programmers are increasingly difficult to find. By automating processes like maintenance scheduling and simplifying workflows through AI—a core goal of its recently launched Autonomous Metrology Suite—Hexagon is making its technology more accessible and reducing the operational burden on its customers.

From Data Points to Predictive Power

For years, metrology has been about generating data—billions of precise measurement points to confirm that a part is within tolerance. The acquisition of IconPro signals a fundamental shift in how that data is valued. It is no longer just a record of past quality but a fuel source for predicting future performance, both of the product and of the machine that measures it.

By connecting IconPro's predictive capabilities to its cloud-based Nexus platform, Hexagon is poised to offer these advanced analytics across its massive global install base. This provides a clear pathway to scaling the technology and delivering recurring revenue through Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) models. While IconPro's profitability is initially expected to be below Hexagon's Manufacturing Intelligence business area, the long-term value lies in cementing customer loyalty and establishing a new standard for intelligent asset management in the quality domain. For manufacturers, the proposition moves beyond purchasing a piece of equipment to investing in guaranteed uptime and a tangible step on the path toward a fully autonomous, self-optimizing factory floor.