Slitting Rewinding HMI
The primary goal of this project was the redesign of the corporate HMI for the complete slitting-rewinding machine portfolio (more info on this technology following).
Duration: 8 Months
Role: UX/UI Designer
Tools Used: Figma, Airtable
Due to Non-Disclosure Agreements some information and visuals will be omitted and/or censored.
Additional objectives included:
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Consistency Across Brands: It was required that the next generation HMI could be rebranded across 4 Company Brands, so the design should be somewhat adaptable and scalable.
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Improved User Experience: Provides a familiar and intuitive interface for users, improving usability and satisfaction whilst also focusing on several competitive advantages
1 // Industrial Context
The primary and converting slitting rewinding industry refers to the sector focused on cutting and rewinding large rolls of materials, such as paper, film, foil, textiles, and plastics, into smaller, more manageable rolls or specific dimensions.
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Primary slitting typically involves processing raw, wide materials directly from manufacturing processes.
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Converting slitting further customizes pre-processed materials for specific end-use applications.
The industry supports packaging, printing, labeling, and other sectors requiring precise material dimensions and quality control.
2 // Research & Discovery
As stated before, the new HMI Solution will be used for all of the Company's Brands (Total 4), so it was essential to develop a deep understanding of both the market and the machine, to do this the following activities have been done:
Workshops and Open sessions to align on expectations and objectives, develop understanding of the client's products and operations and to collect initial requirements.
UX Analysis and Evaluation of current HMI solution to identify and resolve usability issues.
Field Research & Interviews in order to collect insights from Machine Operators, Technicians and Plant Managers. Interviews and shadowing were performed in Italy and in China
12
Interviews in Italy
15
Interviews in China
Understanding the production process steps in order to design optimized UX Flows, focusing on the specific product features required to guide the operator in order to complete each production step.
3 // Idea Definition
Once concluded, the research and discovery phase left us with a vast amount of base data. The first step was to analyze and process all the collected data in order to generate project insights and findings. Some numbers:
60
Key Insights
90
Product Features
8
Actionable Project
Outcomes
5
Future Actions
4 // UI Screens
A series of UI-Screens were delivered in order to supply the development team with references for specific patterns and product features functionalities.
Dashboard designed to provide primary operation insights at first-glance. On the left side a series of configurable widgets can be personalized to the users needs based on current production activities. Alarms and warning are contextualized on the machine layout in order to improve troubleshooting. The footer contains more detailed alarm information, next to being expandable in order to visualize multiple machine values.
An essential part of the machine operation is the setup and management of production recipes. We provided an intuitive top view layout of the knives, counterknives and material rolls. The values and parameters can be directly edited and applied to the machine. As an alternative, preset cutting and material recipes can be selected.
Live Production Monitoring is essential for Output Product Quality. A live trend graph paired with production KPI provides all the necessary parameters to adjust the machine setup for optimal output quality.
Machine Controls can be either automatic or manual, and can be used during machine setup/configuration for a specific production or during maintenance. The cycle inspector on the right provides a visual indication on the process status.
Red Dot Award: Design Concept | Concept | Interaction, UI and User Experience
