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HMI Helps With the Heavy Lifting

Modern HMI software removes barriers to valuable data and empowers OEMs and end users through improved operation, business agility and time to market.

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By Susan Burtch, Lead Commercial Portfolio Manager, Visualization Software, Rockwell Automation

It’s essential to remove barriers for industrial firms to be more efficient and productive in our rapidly evolving digital landscape. Workforce shortages and skills gaps are perhaps some of the biggest threats to any manufacturer or producer. A way to combat these issues is by introducing new technology.

By incorporating modern technology into the workplace, manufacturers are helping employees work more efficiently and in roles that are more fulfilling and valuable. Digital transformation is advancing all technologies within organizations, driving innovation, streamlining and optimizing operations, and improving business agility and flexibility.

Let’s explore modern human-machine interface (HMI) software and how the tools supported by that software are empowering software designers and operators.

Optimizing Designer Collaboration

Working on the same project at the same time is common for designers and their colleagues, whether they’re in-house or working within an OEM. To make the design work, designers need easy, flexible, secure and transparent collaboration, whether they’re working in an office or remotely from home or in the field.

When working on a project with multiple designers, everyone needs consistent access to high-quality tools and a seamless user experience.

Project visibility in real-time is important during the design phase, especially when multiple team members are involved. A lack of visibility can lead to difficulties tracking progress, identifying who is making changes and understanding the reasoning behind those changes. Duplicated efforts and overwriting can cause project delays and wasted design resources and money.

This is where modern HMI software collaboration tools come into play. They provide comprehensive project visibility within a collaborative design environment, connecting designers with timely, pertinent information necessary for quick and informed decision-making.

Streamlined collaboration and version control means fewer opportunities for errors down the road. It also means shorter project timelines.

An HMI’s integration with cloud or web-based tools empowers teams to design and deploy applications remotely and implement changes or updates seamlessly within the production environment.

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Efficiency Through a Centralized Repository

With multiple developers augmenting, creating and testing each other's work, real-time or sequential collaboration calls for robust code management and version control mechanisms. A centralized project repository, such as GitHub, assumes a pivotal role.

With a centralized project repository, design tools and code can seamlessly integrate into the centralized repository within the HMI, allowing multiple users to make changes and merge the changes into the master version. It also helps identify and resolve potential duplication of efforts.

Centralized integration provides teams with a holistic view of a project's status. Teams can easily identify who made changes and access different versions of individual components and the entire application within the design tool. This empowers OEMs to provide valuable services for end users through a shared, centralized repository, including:

  • Engage with customers.
  • Facilitate application building.
  • Share ideas.
  • Exchange code snippets.
  • Troubleshoot solutions.
  • Evaluate objects and demo applications.
A man sitting at a cubicle desk using modern HMI tools on a computer.

Modern HMI tools allow operators to be notified remotely about any production issues so they can respond to production issues quickly.

Another significant advantage of HMI design tools is the creation of reusable code libraries stored within the centralized code repository. This readily accessible code can be reused within the organization and customized for various applications. It allows designers to drag-and-drop into code blocks and build the application's distinguishing features around them.

Reusable libraries help engineers avoid rework and allocate more time to innovative, true revenue-generating projects instead of rebuilding code that already exists. And this helps drive increased productivity.

Empower Operators

HMI software is key in helping OEMs address their clients’ workforce challenges.

For example, once a project has been deployed and is running on the plant floor, it moves into the jurisdiction of operators. If an alarm or some other problem occurs, operators need a way to notify the right people that they need help troubleshooting. If the maintenance engineers aren’t on-site, remote assistance is crucial for continuity. 

With HMI tools, operators are empowered through remote-access tools for maintenance. Accessing these tools allows issues to be flagged and notifications sent to the maintenance engineer to contact the operator.

Modern HMI OptixPortfolio software from Rockwell Automation.

Modern HMI software collaboration tools provide comprehensive project visibility within a collaborative design environment, connecting designers with timely, pertinent information for quick and informed decision-making.

Tools like built-in chat available in some HMI solutions can serve a valuable role in communicating around the issue and potential solutions. Resolution might require escalation, so remote access to the HMI tools is crucial in letting the maintenance engineer see what the operator sees on the screen.

Together, they can work through and identify the problem, make application changes if needed and deploy that change remotely. A maintenance change to an application that’s running is saved into the cloud repository, so teams know that they’re running an updated version of the application. Together, they can work through and identify the problem, make application changes if needed and deploy that change remotely. A maintenance change to an application that’s running is saved into the cloud repository, so teams know that they’re running an updated version of the application.

Important objectives for an OEM when designing and developing a smart machine are to:

  • Reduce complexity in equipment operation.
  • Make the system easier to maintain.

Alignment with these objectives can make the end-user’s workforce as productive as possible, and it allows the OEM to provide additional value. For OEMs, the ability to connect remotely with customers via the HMI delivers business value in terms of remote support and issue resolution. This saves time and of course, the money it takes to travel to a site.

The net benefit of this to both OEM and the customer, of course, is that the quicker problems can be triaged and solved, the more uptime there is, and that enhances business continuity.

Big-Picture Benefits

A modern HMI can empower an industrial firm’s workforce by removing barriers to valuable information and providing access to data and applications independent of location. Applications can be designed collaboratively and transparently, with development coordinated and stored in a shared centralized repository.

Clarity provided by HMI collaboration tools optimizes and speeds the development cycle as all stakeholders have up-to-date status, with updates and changes clearly defined, avoiding redundant and duplicate work.

On the operational side, HMI tools allow operators to see and respond to production issues quickly. Instead of monitoring screens to know when alarms happen, operators can be remotely notified and take immediate action or escalate for remote maintenance support and resolution.

The big-picture benefits for enterprises are optimization of design, operational and maintenance resources, faster design cycles, improved time to market, and faster issue resolution, which can drive improved revenues, operational excellence and customer satisfaction.

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The Journal From Rockwell Automation and Our PartnerNetwork™ is published by Endeavor Business Media.

Topics: The Journal Human Machine Interface
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