One Size HMI Fits All

17.03.2011

OYSTAR has developed a uniform HMI panel for all of the OYSTAR machines. Now OYSTAR machines are easier to operate than ever before.

OYSTAR presents a completely innovation: an ergonomically designed HMI panel with future-oriented technology with which every OYSTAR machine will be equipped from now on. The panel standardizes operation of all of the company’s machines through uniform hardware and software so that customers – no matter which OYSTAR machines they use for manufacturing – now only have to adhere to a single navigation concept. In addition, the HMI is compatible with all conventional fixtures.

Handling of the OYSTAR panel is intuitive – similar to the iPhone – and is carried out using a modern multi-touch system, so that machine operation for customers is greatly simplified. The widescreen displays range from ten to twenty-one inches in size; machine workflows and current messages are systematically displayed and recognized at one glance. “This was a central aspect in the development of the new HMI,” explains COO Markus Ehl at OYSTAR. “All of the information required by the user is displayed – without losing sight of the overall picture.” In order to account for individual customer requirements, the standard HMI can be configured with optional widgets and/or mini apps.

Focus on Customer Requirements

In developing the HMI, customer requirements were placed at a central focus. Thus the project team collected information internally from various OYSTAR business locations about the features of existing panels that provided for customer satisfaction as well as the extent to which there was room for improvement. Personal visits were made to different customers in order to analyze their individual user behavior and to thus obtain further suggestions for optimization. “On this basis we were ultimately able to develop the concept for a new standardized HMI that satisfies virtually every end user requirement,” recapitulates Ehl.

Together with software development experts for head units and control systems and two industry designers it was then time to implement the project. “Thanks to outstanding cooperation on the part of the individual OYSTAR subsidiaries and external experts we can now present our new HMI already at interpack 2011 in Düsseldorf,” comments Ehl. “This joint development is certainly one of our trade exhibition highlights this year!”