Process control applications
INTRO
Carmeuse was redesigning their control room for limestone processing in Kosice (Slovakia), including both physical and digital interfaces. My team was responsible for coming up with a new physical layout for the screens and designing interfaces for production units and dashboard.
Key responsibilities
Lead a team of 3 UX and UI designers
Project management
User research
UX/UI
RESEARCH
Methodology
Our research plan included the following activities:
- Field observations and on-site interviews in three sites
- Expert review of current interfaces
- Study of standards for control room HMI design
Findings
We organised our findings in themes, from physical space to user interface details and used them to feed with requirements both the redesign of the physical space and the applications.
Some insights:
- In the current UI red colour and animation were used to signify a state change, part of standard operation, but also abnormal situations. At any given moment the UI has parts that are constantly blinking causing distraction and visual overload.
- Often, the numeric value of an indication, eg pressure, is not so important as whether the value remains within thresholds. An operato will look for the exact number only if there is an abnormal situation.
- The central piece of equipment, the kiln, is mostly automated. It requires calibration once in a while. In the meantime operators do other tasks.
COMPONENTS
Carmeuse included in their requirements the standardisation of components used to represent equipment, indications and alarms. We based our UI design on the HP HMI framework.
SCREENS
Design direction:
- Our goal was to create sober interfaces that can provide situation awareness at a glance, via the use of analogue indicators.
- The explicit use of red colour for abnormal situation makes abnormal values stand out in the interface.
- The operator can navigate between equipment either by following the different flows of materials, either the system-subsystem hierarchy.
