Use Software to Customize the HMI

Control Design - May 2009

Tailor-Fitted HMI: Operator Interface Hardware Can Accommodate the Needs of the User and Look Good Doing It

Software choices about branding and image come into play when machine builders decide to provide their own unique operator interaction by customizing the human-machine interface (HMI), rather than settle on the default interface of the vendor.

If a machine builder sells into an industry in which control traditionally was accomplished with physical control panel operations and indicators - where operators aren’t accustomed to seeing full-featured HMIs - making the screen appear like the control panel can be a big factor in encouraging adoption. It can lower training costs for the machine builder’s customers. This also can be important in a global market where language might be an issue.

[…]

Roy Kok, vice president of sales and marketing for Kepware Technologies (www.kepware.com), says HMIs are extremely flexible today, to the point that they can be completely customized for OEM use. “When running, you wouldn’t know whose technology is behind the interface,” he says. “If custom graphics or screen controls are needed, all HMIs have the ability to import third-party graphics, ActiveX or .NET controls.”

Customization is extremely important to both machine builders and machine users, says Tim Donaldson, director of marketing for Iconics (www.iconics.com). “They need to be able to have a graphic screen work with their hardware,” he says. “So they need to build the HMI screen to have the right data points tied to their hardware and have the right graphics display on there.”

[…]

ICONICS Background Information

Founded in 1986, ICONICS is a leader in the development of Web-enabled industrial automation and manufacturing intelligence software for Microsoft® Windows® operating systems. Offering the industry's only suite of fully-integrated OPC-based components and products, GENESIS32™ Enterprise Edition is available for Windows XP, XP Professional x64, Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 x64. Pocket GENESIS™ for Windows CE and Pocket PC was built from the ground up based on ICONICS' OPC-To-The-Core™ framework. BizViz™ is a suite of manufacturing and business intelligence products, which bridge the gap between manufacturing and corporate business information systems. BizViz is designed around Microsoft .NET technology and Microsoft SharePoint Services. ICONICS also offers a complete set of Plug and Play automation components, including best-in-class OPC ActiveX® Controls, OPC Toolkit, Human Machine Interface (HMI), Microsoft SQL Server®-based data logging, Multimedia Alarming, and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) products. ICONICS is a Microsoft Gold Certified partner represented in over 60 countries, and has more than 225,000 product installations worldwide.

© 2009 ICONICS, Inc. All rights reserved. Specifications are subject to change without notice. GENESIS64, GENESIS32, Pocket GENESIS, BizViz and their respective modules, OPC-To-The-Core, and Visualize Your Enterprise are trademarks of ICONICS Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.