I used to always ask suppliers of HMI or operator interface products or even other products if there was a science to developing interfaces. I'd often get blank stares. I've asked the same thing about developing dashboards—same response most of the time.
The world is changing. A couple of years ago, Emerson Process Management
unveiled its Human Centered Design initiative. At the last Exchange
user group, I got a tour of the "Usability Experience." After the tour
it was easy to see the benefits of designing things taking into account
how people use them at work and not just what looks good to the
engineer. Human-centered design is one of those ideas that looks like
common sense in retrospect.
Jim Cahill at Emerson Process Experts wrote recently, "I came across some
information from Emerson's Carter Cartwright, a member of the Fisher
Valve & Instruments team, about another product released based on
this HCD approach—the DLC3020f Fieldbus digital level controller. The
objective of this development was to create a Foundation fieldbus-based
level instrument that would improve level measurement and provide
operators and maintenance technicians a simpler view into the operating
and diagnostic information."
Watch for the December 2010 issue of Automation World which will be
online during the first week of December. Wes Iversen has a great
description of the Emerson initiative plus what other companies such as
ABB, Invensys Operations Management and Rockwell Automation are doing.
(I just proofread it today.) There is some cool stuff brewing in the
industry.
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