Industrial Design Usability: Fusion of Digital And Analog

Related Vendors

FAULHABER Drive Systems

Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders' Association (TMBA)

Wuxi InfiMotion Technology Co., Ltd.

Complex requirements, such as the use of touch displays with or without gloves, demand superior usability that not only enables error-free operation but also leads to innovative solutions. What could this look like?

Angelo Schulz is a managing director of Defortec.

As a development partner, we work internationally on various technologically advanced capital goods. The interaction between humans and machines is regularly the focus, aiming to make highly complex operations and processes simple and understandable to operate. This involves not only direct operation but also indirect handling, service, and maintenance of the machines.

Demographic change demands industrial goods that are increasingly easy to understand: this is due to the shortage of skilled workers and the use of less specialized workers on machines, while in our daily lives we have become accustomed to increasingly high-quality user interfaces and applications. This expectation is transferred to machines and their interfaces, as well as to physical handling processes—especially in industrial systems, the gap between expectation and reality remains significant.

Why Usability is Important

Intuitive, quickly comprehensible user interfaces, whether physical or digital, reduce learning times and give the user a sense of control.

Ergonomically well-arranged and user-appropriate controls support the user and thus not only reduce fatigue but also enhance safety: Quickly and clearly comprehensible interfaces ensure error prevention and exclude incorrect operation.

For this, usability principles with a high success rate can be applied:

• Clarity of assignment and allocation,
• clear labeling and
• Order through grouping and separation

are the foundations of good usability. For physical handling processes, the Japanese Poka-Yoke principle for error prevention remains unbeaten—adhering to the motto: "Only what is meant to fit, fits."

What Does This Look Like in Practice?

Test device for solar cells

The first example is a testing device for measuring the properties of a solar cell wafer, which requires extremely short measurement cycles and very high throughput rates. Clear usability in the physical domain protects the device from potential self-destruction.

The device, designed with shy-tech principles for a reserved appearance, promotes focus and concentration instead of an overwhelming, oversized touch interface, which could otherwise cause distractions. A simple LED directly at the test inserts signals in red or green whether the correct pairing of the test inserts has been made. The test inserts are chip-coded, and the machine does not start without the correct pairing—yet the feedback to the user is crystal clear.

The principle is quickly understandable—even for people who struggle with reading. Reducing influences on the user sharpens focus and minimizes distraction. Interfaces can also distract if they display too much or offer too many setting options.

Necessary information on one screen

A clear requirement for the wireless remote control of Rotzler's winches was to immediately and clearly display the applied force and the rope extension length on the new interface. These are critical factors in recovery operations under the harshest conditions, which can take place in arctic temperatures of -40 °F, in pouring rain, at night, or under intense sunlight at up to 158°F in the desert.

These weather conditions pose a challenge not only to the materials but also to the operators: most of the time, these are highly unique extreme cases, and the winches are used to move several hundred tons—making this a safety-critical operation. Under such conditions, glove operation is a mandatory requirement, which makes touch screens inadmissible.

Haptic buttons and joysticks make operation tactile and clearly perceptible, while the visual receptors can be used to closely observe the situation—a separation of hand and eye movement that would not be possible with a touchscreen. The result is a remote control with haptic controls and a modular interface—offering high adaptability to customer requirements and ease of navigation between differently complex recovery systems, which can vary from one to up to six joysticks.

Large data volumes

What if data volumes become not only complex but also large? This is the challenge faced in ultra-pure water treatment. This ultra-pure process water is used in the semiconductor industry, for example, for rinsing processes in wafer or circuit trace production. Even the smallest impurities—which can already include foreign molecules—result in defects in semiconductor traces only a few nanometers in size. These enormous requirements demand not only sophisticated treatment processes but also continuous analysis and adjustment.

The most advanced particle analysis system currently comes from Ovivo—particle sizes as small as 5 nm (2 × 10⁻⁷ inches) can be continuously quantified. The device has a compact and modular design, which becomes a unique selling point in confined installation situations: maximum customer flexibility and information density with minimal dimensions. A distinctive touchscreen on the device enables intuitive interaction and rapid information transfer: at first glance, the device prominently displays the current measurement values. Through interaction with the analysis device, the user accesses a significantly more complex menu.

Here, the interface digitally represents the modularity and flexibility: up to four specially developed high-tech ultrasonic sensors can analyze ultra-pure water across four measurement channels. The touchscreen allows the now familiar interaction: zooming and scrolling enable seamless switching between data, making the overview of measurement progressions and trends almost effortless and playful. Another advantage of such a complex system is the ability to integrate videos for troubleshooting or training purposes—conveniently accessible directly on the analyzer. This is especially useful in large treatment plants where distances can be substantial. Additionally, data import and export are simple and intuitive: for those who have not directly integrated the analyzer into the system, the analysis data can be easily exported with just a few clicks.

User guidance in service and maintenance processes

How Industry 4.0 and predictive maintenance can become a game changer was developed by us with Voith on their InfibraRefiner.

This is a machine for processing paper fibers in a liquid state, and it is essential for paper quality —the wear of the internal fittings is only permissible to a certain extent, after which there is a risk of web breaks in the still-wet paper web, leading to production downtime and waste.

The machine continuously measures process parameters via different sensors. If certain values are exceeded, the device provides information about the next required fitting change directly onsite through a ring light on its "nose" and via digital interfaces to the control center—predictive maintenance ensures maximum productivity here:

The fitting can be replaced before it is critically worn down and time pressure arises. Through appropriate coding of the ring light, the operator knows when a replacement is due—also here, it is simple and quickly recognizable. The complex touch interface for parameter settings is completely pushed into the background.

Usability is Unique

Targeted usability development is always tailored to the customer and the machine's purpose. Critical points must be identified and resolved in a context-appropriate manner—good usability is individual.

The blind use of touchscreens is not always promising, even though they surround us as a matter of course today. They offer many advantages but don't solve every problem—and in some cases, they must not be used. Our tip: Look for professionals who understand industrial systems, capital goods, and machinery, as well as good, application-appropriate usability.

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