The operator panels market is growing and gaining strength from year to year. Companies have an increasing choice, and manufacturers must make every effort to meet the expectations of their customers as fully as possible. But what now has the biggest impact on the shape of that market? What are the main trends that are currently on it?
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In one of our earlier texts, we mentioned the great importance of operator panels in modern industry. Their presence in many industries is, moreover, one of the inherent features of the 4.0 revolution, which is taking place all the time before our eyes.
The amount of data that is currently processed means that operators need appropriate tools to be able to make decisions in a short time. Many machines are often under their control, and the control of the production process must run smoothly so as not to cause downtime and generate unnecessary costs.
Which industries are the most interested in panels at the moment? This question was answered especially for Automation Trader by Michał Cydzik, who at Mitsubishi Electric Europe is responsible for HMI panels and SCADA systems. - It seems to me that Automotiv is invariably the leader in the industries, while the Life Science and FMCG industries are also not inferior here - he admitted.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
- We can see, however, that many customers in the packaging and Agro industries are moving from classic operator desks built of buttons to more flexible HMIs. Also, customers who produce small machines are increasingly switching to HMI desktops, which, despite the higher price, can maintain greater flexibility and speed up construction, and most importantly, increase the attractiveness of the machine - added Cydzik.
The popularity of the panels is enormous, as is the number of features they have to offer today. But enough generalities. What exactly do such devices have to offer? - Functions in the form of MES (communication with databases), Web servers, VNC or VPN. The increasingly widely used protocols such as OPC UA or MQTT, which allow communication with the cloud or object-oriented exchange of information between devices, said the expert from Mitshubishi Electric Europe.
- Quite an interesting concept is related to the Total Production Maintanance approach, where operator desks have the possibility of full diagnostics together with PLCs, drives and WebIP cameras to speed up error analysis in maintenance departments or for customers who deliver machines to distant countries - he admitted.
GREAT POSSIBILITIES
HMI panels have a lot of possibilities and usually their functionality is the key aspect when making choices by companies. There are many more variables in this aspect, however, and the way in which they can facilitate the work of operators does not always have a decisive influence on the final choice of the buyer. According to Michał Cydzik, before the final purchase decision, the person making it must weigh many different arguments on the scale, and everyone can ultimately bet on something else.
- A very important factor that customers are currently considering is the appearance of the panel itself, because it is often also a showcase of the machine (and the manufacturer) - said the Mitsubishi Electric Europe expert.
In the following places, in the context of the purchase decision, features such as the functions of the device itself, or - which seems not the most obvious factor, but not always - price. It seems because customers much more often choose other advantages, even if it is associated with the initial need to dig a little deeper into the pocket. - The second, no less important factor are ready-made functions that are to simplify and speed up the process of integration with the manufacturer's devices, e.g. the ability to monitor and diagnose the PLC controller, servo drives and frequency converters - Mitsubishi Electric offers GOT Drive functions that reduce integration time together with Mitsubishi Electric drives and manipulators. And necessarily, at the end there is a very important factor in the form of price, but often customers are able to pay more if we can provide functionality that will shorten the integration time, which will translate into even greater savings. One of the trends that is also becoming more and more often manifested is the use of the panel as a gateway between IT systems in the form of communication with databases or communication with NAS file servers, as well as remote access in the form of VPN, VNC or WebServer - added the expert.
MARK OF THE TIME
HMI panels - as already mentioned - must adapt to the new times and industrial changes, which are so fondly marked with the symbol "4.0". Something that not so long ago could have been considered a luxury, today is already a standard and something without which this type of device is difficult to imagine. - Of course, we can look at the matter in such a way that the HMI itself was a luxury until recently, but today we can find an operator panel in every machine. Currently, such a standard in Europe are Wide panels with a high resolution of 1280x800. 10 ", 12" and larger panels are also increasingly standard. The expectations are currently such that the panel is not only to work and display, but must look good, which was not so important in the past - concluded Cydzik.
