Metrology Forum Wetzlar

International metrology company Hexagon Metrology expands capacity in Germany.

Groundbreaking November 2011. Topping out May 2012. Official opening September 2012. Hexagon Metrology can reflect on the successful construction of its new production hall at Wetzlar. The production hall opening was celebrated with about 350 guests from the worlds of commerce, science and politics attending the Metrology Forum Wetzlar held on 27th and 28th September 2012. The building provides space for the manufacture of ultra-high-precision 3D coordinate measuring machines under the Leitz brand, sensor assembly as well as the Research and Development Department.

A dozen different models of coordinate measuring machines and just as many sensor variants are made in the Hexagon Metrology works in Wetzlar, a town famed for its optics. In his opening speech, Per Holmberg, President Hexagon Metrology Europe, Middle East and Africa, emphasised the special position that the Leitz product line holds in the globally active company: "The first substantial investments at this facility were made in 2005 and 2006. With the building of this new manufacturing hall, we have now completed a second tranche. All the investments have preserved our technological lead in the field of ultra-high-precision measurement – a unique expertise for which Hexagon Metrology has an excellent reputation." Wetzlar also manufactures, for example, the world's most accurate coordinate measuring machine Leitz Infinity, which boasts a measuring accuracy of 0.3 micrometres.

Holger Fritze, Managing Director Hexagon Metrology Germany: "The 1,500-square-metre expansion of our production space accomplished with the opening of the new hall, a doubling of the existing floor area, is more than a mere leap of faith. It demonstrates the confidence that the international Hexagon Group has in and its high regard for the local management team, the employees and the huge potential of the product lines manufactured here."

As well as the official opening of the hall, the Metrology Forum Wetzlar also had practical presentations on the agenda. A host of the company's customers and partners, including Chris Charnley, Quality Manager at Red Bull Technology, gave convincing accounts of how Hexagon Metrology solutions have overcome a variety of industrial metrology challenges. And the guests also continued networking during the evening event on 27th September, when they had the opportunity to discuss current developments in metrology. Based on this successful première, the Forum is destined to have a permanent spot on the Hexagon Metrology events calendar.