vhf digital solutions is the name of the digital platform that German manufacturer vhf camfacture AG has offered since October 5, 2026, to upgrade its dental milling machines already installed in labs. It adds an automation layer to machining control, including intelligent blank selection, automatic nesting of parts on the disc, automatic leveling and automatic connector placement, for machining that vhf camfacture AG claims is up to 20% faster than its previous software generation.
What does vhf digital solutions actually change at the milling station?
The platform replaces manual, step-by-step machine control with an automated machining setup. According to the October 5, 2026 press release, blank selection, nesting of parts on the disc (auto-nesting), part leveling (auto-leveling) and bridge connector placement are now handled by the software instead of being adjusted by hand before each run. The manufacturer calls this set of automatic settings "optimized machining strategies".
What time savings are claimed, and on what basis?
vhf camfacture AG claims machining times reduced by up to 20% compared with its previous software generation. This figure comes from the manufacturer: no independent test protocol is published alongside the October 5, 2026 release, and the actual gain will depend on the part type, the material and the lab's initial setup. Frank Benzinger, CEO of vhf camfacture AG, sums up the intent in that release: with vhf digital solutions, the company is turning its milling machines into a connected digital platform.
Which milling machines can be upgraded, and at what cost?
The upgrade has been available since October 5, 2026, for vhf machines already in service, and it also ships on new machines. For milling machines manufactured from 2025 onward, moving to vhf digital solutions is free until December 31, 2026, according to the manufacturer's release. For older machines, vhf camfacture AG points labs to upgrade offers handled by its authorized resellers, with no public price disclosed so far.
What do dentalcam 9, dentalcnc 9 and myvhf change day to day in the lab?
Three components make up the platform. dentalcam 9 is the new generation of CAM software that calculates machining paths and embeds the nesting and leveling automation. dentalcnc 9 is the layer that controls the machine itself. myvhf is the digital control center the manufacturer describes as able to supervise up to six vhf milling machines from a single installation, with productivity tracking and notifications. For a lab running several machines on one production line, this shifts part of machine-floor supervision onto a single dashboard.
Why does this automation matter for a lab milling zirconia?
Automatic nesting directly affects a cost item for any lab milling zirconia or PMMA discs: arranging parts more efficiently on a disc reduces the share of material lost between machining runs, regardless of which manufacturer built the milling machine. Automatic bridge connector placement, in turn, reduces a step where a setting error translates directly into breakage during milling or finishing. These automations sit downstream of design work done in exocad, 3Shape or DentalCAD: they change nothing in the restoration's design, but they do change the number of manual adjustments between exporting the file and starting the milling job.
- Launch date of vhf digital solutions: October 5, 2026 (vhf camfacture AG, press release of October 5, 2026)
- Claimed machining time gain: up to 20% versus the previous software generation (vhf camfacture AG, October 5, 2026)
- Milling machines controllable from a single myvhf installation: up to 6 (vhf camfacture AG, October 5, 2026)
- Free upgrade: machines manufactured from 2025 onward, until December 31, 2026 (vhf camfacture AG, October 5, 2026)
- New software generation shipped: dentalcam 9 and dentalcnc 9 (vhf camfacture AG, October 5, 2026)
These automations are not unique to vhf: most dental CAM vendors are moving in the same direction, toward milling machine control that requires fewer and fewer manual adjustments between design and finished part. For a lab, the question to ask before any upgrade remains the same: what is the actual gain on its own parts, not just the figure announced by the manufacturer.
Sources
vhf camfacture AG, press release "From milling system to digital platform: vhf makes existing machines ready for the next generation of dental manufacturing", October 5, 2026, vhf.com/en-us/news/from-milling-system-to-digital-platform-vhf-makes-existing-machines-ready-for-the-next-generation-of-dental-manufacturing/
Dental Review News, "vhf: Next Generation Upgrade", October 5, 2026, dentalreview.news/technology/24-dental-cad-cam-technology/14011-vhf-next-generation-upgrade
