At first glance, the industrial production environment appears to be just as digitalized as a modern office. Touch panels have long since replaced the control panels on the machine. But that doesn’t say much about the operating concept behind it. Proprietary systems still prevent consistent, company-wide networking. This can be achieved with web-based visualizations, provided they are designed to be manufacturer-independent. The article describes a visualization solution from Weidmüller.
The Internet and IT influence all private and professional areas of life. Devices are intelligent, networked and can be operated via display – not on site, but also remotely. Comparable tendencies can be seen in the production environment. Machine-level touch panels are still common for smaller applications. For complex control and monitoring tasks, the user wants to access all available interfaces: the desktop in the office, and the tablet or smartphone on the go. This development represents a significant challenge for machine manufacturers and plant engineers – but also a great opportunity to generate added value and increase sales opportunities.
From the control panel to the IT center
Particularly in more demanding SCADA applications, many boundaries have been broken with the IIoT, the Industrial Internet of Things. The data from a sensor in the system field is fed directly into a globally networked ERP system via gateways – and practically in real time. At the same time, more and more functions are being integrated to support administration and organization that no longer have anything to do with the actual visualization. This includes, for example, managing machine settings and recipes or recording quality-relevant data via integrated data loggers.
In addition, all other aspects of the machine are also covered, such as keeping order logs about the quantity, quality, batch, etc. of the materials used or managing maintenance tasks.
The perfect visualization, an economic risk?
The potential that IIoT opens up in the highly competitive machinery market is indeed tempting. Instead of spending a lot of effort increasing the performance of a sophisticated machine by a few percent, machine manufacturers can achieve significant increases in sales and strengthen customer loyalty in this new business area. But until a user interface is ready for the market, you have to pre-finance several man-years. If the concept flops, the investment is lost. The risk can be reduced using ready-made software solutions, such as those offered by many control manufacturers. However, these are usually kept proprietary.
However, there is an interesting alternative: local cloud solutions. Per se, these are no longer rigid single-user applications, but are based on a client/server architecture. They are installed on an HMI host that any clients, for example panel, IPC or an embedded device, access via browser. Software installations are not necessary for this. Thanks to responsive or adaptive design, the interface can be automatically adapted to the device, from a compact smartphone to a 60″ monitor.
This also makes a complete change in the operating philosophy possible, away from device-specific representation towards user-centered design: when programmed correctly, the focus is no longer on the machine, but on the user. Thanks to the role and rights system typical of web applications, groups of people such as system operators, production managers, quality managers or maintenance personnel are shown exactly the information in the form that corresponds to their tasks and the nature of the operating devices.
Web HMI: future-proof and economical
Based on the advantages described, Weidmüller GTI Software has developed the software tool PROCON-WEB, a visualization solution whose dynamic user interfaces can be individually parameterized and configured, without any programming knowledge. The configurable cloud application is equipped with an HTML5 user interface for all systems in Adaptive Design. This also eliminates the need for plug-ins such as Flash, Java or Silverlight. Using this software, the advantages and possibilities of a web-based HMI application are explained below.
An important argument is cost control during development – the much-cited factor “time to market” is influenced very positively. A visualization can of course be programmed individually, but this requires a lot of time and specialists such as web and system developers. With the Weidmüller GTI software, the implementation of a modern and powerful HMI is possible with less know-how in a shorter time. Typical users are application engineers or PLC programmers who have no prior knowledge of high-level language programming.
The software supports the user with dynamic user interfaces as well as multi-touch and gesture control. Using an engineering tool, the user can use simple configuration to create user interfaces that look and operate like modern web applications or apps. You can scroll page content or switch between different pages by swiping. Color changes or moving elements can be provided with smooth transitions. Thanks to this WYSIWYG design (what you see is what you get), the user can create interfaces of a quality that previously only web designers could deliver.
Special requirements can be added using your own extensions or custom controls. With such a configurable cockpit function, the front-end user can record, visualize and analyze the data they need for their task, for example fill levels for the buyer on the desktop and wear data for the service technician on the mobile phone. He can, for example, have this displayed as a “service list”. T
his allows him to keep track of the urgency of maintenance and repair tasks. The production manager, in turn, has all machine data brought together on a dashboard. This allows him to see how efficiently the machines produce, how many parts were of good quality and how many were rejected.
However, there are also expansion options for specific requirements in a high-level language such as Java Script, because even the wide range of options that the software comes with can reach its limits for high-end customers. Thanks to open interfaces, a web designer can, for example, insert a 3D model of a system or design the entire interface according to a company’s CI.
Open, simple, resource-saving and future-proof
The design options for the user interface are supplemented by numerous proprietary and standardized communication interfaces. The software can be used as an OPC UA client and server. It is also possible to link it to any controller and to higher-level MES and ERP systems. It is also worth mentioning that the software itself, as an embedded system, can also be operated on less powerful devices with Linux natively or with Docker.
The latter is free software for container-based virtualization. This means that all required packages, from code to system libraries, are installed separately from the other resources of a computer. All of these features make PROCON-WEB a highly flexible and future-oriented solution. With it, the machine manufacturer can offer its customers added value to the machine function and stand out from its competitors.