In a strategic move poised to redefine traditional inspection workflows across critical industries, Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division and PRAGMA have expanded their partnership to deliver enhanced portable non-destructive testing (NDT) and metrology capabilities across North America.
Under the agreement, Hexagon will distribute PRAGMA’s advanced NDT solutions in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The integration of PRAGMA’s inspection instruments and sensors with Hexagon’s modular Absolute Arms and Leica laser trackers enables customers to combine precision metrology with advanced NDT imaging, offering unprecedented portability and precision in field inspections.
The collaborative solution allows engineers and technicians to perform comprehensive NDT inspections—such as corrosion mapping, spot weld inspections, flaw detection in composites and castings, and additive manufacturing validation—directly at the site of the component. Crucially, these inspections can now be conducted without removing or disassembling parts, while maintaining high-accuracy positioning in the component’s 3D coordinate system using digitized surfaces and CAD models.
This first-to-market approach transforms conventional inspection practices, making it especially valuable for applications in maintenance and repair operations, reverse engineering, and in-service part evaluation.
François Mainguy, CEO of PRAGMA, emphasized the strategic timing of the partnership, stating, “The timing is right, as Hexagon benefits from niche technologies like ours to support its innovation path, while PRAGMA is looking to expand its distribution networks. Together, we’re helping manufacturers in aerospace, automotive, and other critical industries detect issues that would otherwise remain hidden until failure.”
The technology is expected to bring significant value to sectors such as aerospace, automotive, defense, wind energy, composites manufacturing, and nuclear power. To further support specific industry requirements, Hexagon plans to roll out specialized kits tailored for aerospace and automotive applications. Existing customers using Absolute Arms and Leica laser trackers will also be offered retrofit options to seamlessly upgrade their systems with advanced NDT capabilities.
By unifying high-precision positioning with portable inspection technologies, Hexagon and PRAGMA are addressing growing demands for efficiency, accuracy, and on-site diagnostics in industrial quality control. The partnership underscores the increasing convergence of digital inspection tools and advanced analytics to unlock deeper operational insights in manufacturing and beyond.
