How Modern Industrial Interfaces Reduce Operator Errors and Boost Efficiency
- Modern high-performance HMIs have moved away from the overwhelming "Christmas tree effect" of cluttered, colorful displays to embrace minimalist, monochromatic designs that prioritize relevant information and reduce operator cognitive strain.
- These interfaces combine real-time data with historical trend analysis, enabling operators to identify patterns, anticipate issues before they escalate and shift from reactive to proactive decision-making that prevents costly downtime.
- Following ISA-101 standards, high-performance HMIs deliver intuitive interfaces with effective alarm management, contextual information display and customization capabilities that reduce training time, improve response speeds and significantly lower operational costs.
In industrial automation, a simple truth is often overlooked: the most effective tools are often the ones that are easiest to use. This is the core philosophy behind a high-performance human-machine interface (HMI) technology.
At its heart, a high-performance HMI is an advanced, yet user-friendly, graphical representation of an industrial process. It transforms intricate operational data into simple, easily digestible visuals, allowing operators to monitor and control complex systems with greater speed and accuracy.
A high-performance HMI is a deliberate design strategy rooted in enhancing human perception and cognitive function. It prioritizes relevant information, using a clear hierarchy and navigation structure that gives operators a top-level system overview while still allowing them to drill down into more granular details. To do this, the graphic displays high-performance HMIs are simplified, often using monochromatic color schemes. This deliberate minimalism ensures that operators aren't distracted by unnecessary visual clutter, reducing the chances of misinterpretation and costly errors.
The evolution of HMI design
Early HMI systems were rudimentary, consisting of basic indicator lights, analog gauges and physical control panels. As computing technology advanced, so did HMIs, particularly with the introduction of distributed control systems (DCS) and SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) software.
Early DCS interfaces were often based on engineering schematics such as piping and instrumentation diagrams. While technically accurate, they required extensive training and experience to read and understand them. In addition, these displays were static and didn’t provide the dynamic, real-time insights needed for proactive management.
However, the next phase of HMI evolution took what is now considered by many in industry to be a wrong turn. As graphical capabilities improved, the design philosophy shifted to a "more is better" philosophy. This led to what has been called a "Christmas tree effect" in HMIs, where the screens were overloaded with excessive objects, vibrant colors and non-essential information. Every pump, valve and tank was animated, and a cacophony of colors was used to represent different states or conditions.
Instead of helping operators assess operations, this visual noise overwhelmed them with a chaotic mess of flashing lights and confusing alarms. This increased the risk of a critical alarm being missed.
In response, the focus of HMI design shifted to effectively presenting relevant, actionable information. The International Society of Automation (ISA) began standardization efforts in 2003, which eventually led to the launch of ISA-101 HMI Design Standard in 2015. This landmark standard provided guidelines and best practices that would become the foundation of today's high-performance HMIs, ensuring that design was driven by the needs of the operator, not the capabilities of the software.
A high-performance HMI should be able to be implemented on a single computer for smaller systems and then scaled up by distributing platform components across multiple virtual machines or even hosting the entire system in the cloud.
Defining characteristics of high-performance HMIs
Several key attributes define a high-performance HMI:
- Intuitive design: The interface is built to be simple and easy to understand from the first interaction, minimizing the learning curve.
- Contextual information: Data isn't just displayed, it's presented logically and contextually to help operators grasp the complete status of an operation more quickly.
- Trend visualization: High-performance HMIs display real-time data alongside historical trends. This enables users to analyze operational patterns, anticipate potential issues and make proactive decisions.
- Alarm management: Instead of a flood of confusing alerts, alarms are kept simple, clear and prioritized based on severity. Preventing alarm overload ensures operators can immediately address the most critical issues.
- Customization: The system can be tailored to specific processes and user preferences, providing a heightened level of operational visibility and a better overall user experience.
The combination of enhanced situational awareness and effective alarm management empowers operators to address issues quickly, minimizing downtime. By preventing malfunctions and failures, high-performance HMIs can save companies substantial amounts of money in lost production and repair costs.
As a result of these features, high-performance HMIs offer the following advantages:
- Enhanced situational awareness: By presenting information concisely and contextually, high-performance HMIs allow operators to quickly and accurately grasp the state of operations. This translates directly into faster response times and more informed decision-making.
- Reduced information overload: The minimalist design philosophy assures that operators are shown only the most relevant details at any given moment, preventing cognitive strain and allowing them to focus on what truly matters.
- Proactive decision-making: With real-time data and historical trend analysis, operators can identify subtle operational patterns and potential issues before they escalate. A shift from a reactive to a proactive mindset helps prevent failures and optimizes processes.
- Effective alarm management: High-performance HMIs provide sophisticated alarm management that prioritizes alerts based on severity. Therefore, critical events are assured to receive immediate attention, preventing alarm floods and ensuring that operators can respond quickly.
- Reduced downtime and costs: The combination of enhanced situational awareness and effective alarm management empowers operators to address issues quickly, minimizing downtime. By preventing malfunctions and failures, high-performance HMIs can save companies substantial amounts of money in lost production and repair costs.
- Improved operator efficiency and training: With intuitive, user-friendly interfaces, new operators can be trained and onboarded more quickly. The clear design and logical information flow reduce the time and effort required to master the system.
High-performance HMIs display real-time data alongside historical trends. This enables users to analyze operational patterns, anticipate potential issues and make proactive decisions.
Benchmarks to look for in high-performance HMIs
As high-performance HMIs have become an industry standard, following are four key aspects to look for as you explore options for procurement:
- Connectivity: The HMI should feature robust connectivity options, integrating with a vast array of devices and data sources. As such, it should use standard protocols like OPC UA, SNMP and Modbus, as well as native integrations with web services and databases.
- Asset modeling: The platform’s asset modeling capability should be robust and capable of handling a diverse installation of devices and data sources, creating a consistent taxonomy. Standardized alarming and historization can provide valuable metadata used to create smart symbols and displays, bringing structure to a complex system.
- UX and web delivery: A graphical development environment can be instrumental for building high-performance displays that deliver a seamless user experience (UX) on a desktop while simultaneously publishing the same information to any web browser using HTML5. This flexibility extends to various display types, including the ability to import CAD files and use a native piping tool for process schematics. Displays should be accessible everywhere — on a control room workstation, a large TV monitor or a mobile device.
- Scalable architecture: A high-performance HMI should be able to be implemented on a single computer for smaller systems and then scaled up by distributing platform components across multiple virtual machines or even hosting the entire system in the cloud. A scalable architecture supports high availability, redundancy and client load balancing, making it a reliable and future-proof investment.
Mary Anne Ballouz is a marketing communications writer at Mitsubishi Electric.
