Pro-face Solution

An HMI Centric concept is actually a kind of industrial IoT solution, in which we make the best of the human workforce and we take the best leverage of the new digital technology. Present by Marc Lafont, a Marketing Director of Pro-face by Schneider Electric.

In the industry market of HMI, reliable products and robust offers are a must. Pro-face by Schneider is covering this requirement during the entire offer creation process. One of them being the testing, performed by the validation group. The Objective is to commercial an offer that conforms to the standards but adapted to the customer need and real condition. To be able to do that we put out focus on testing the product in the real environment.

Today’s industrial market is filled with services and products developed to realize “Industry 4.0” and "Smart Factories” at modern manufacturing sites. However, we recently hear comments like these. “We couldn’t gain any substantial effects despite major investments.”　And, “Yes, we can now collect various device data. But, it takes too much manpower to integrate and use it.” And so on. In response to such comments, we revised our HMIs from operation terminals to devices that can integrate device data and operation log data for use.

Good screen design cannot be taken lightly. It is essentially vital because it has a direct and positive impact on operational efficiency. However, since the introduction of the HMI nearly 40 years ago, designing screens is a time-consuming process that requires specialized skills and expertise. Now, new screen design software is simplifying this process and dramatically reducing the time it takes to design effective screens. New layouts and templates are giving users newfound freedom and flexibility to create a better interface, faster.

GP4100 series is a high-performance model that supports data collection and mobile remote monitoring despite its small size. Three installation case examples of compact HMI are introduced this time.

As industries continue to navigate harsh outdoor settings, extreme temperatures, dust, shock, and physical stress, significant obstacles arise to challenge equipment longevity and performance. That is how the Pro-face SP5000X Series emerge as a game-changing solution, offering the durability and adaptability required to thrive in such demanding environments.

Have you ever heard of “UX”? UX is short for User Experience and it means to experience and satisfaction users get when using products or services. The word is often used mainly for applications or Web services, but we think the policy of UX is important also in the field of hardware products.

Haven’t you often heard of “AI=Artificial Intelligence” lately? AI is no longer a term in SF movies only and is coming closer to our real world. AI played chess or go with a human and beat him. AI is applied in the self-driving technology of automobiles. Probably, you have already heard such news.  Why did Pro-face that is an HMI manufacturer pick up this term as a keyword for the Industry tech trend? It’s because we think this AI technology will become important even in an FA industry we engage in. 

<p>Haven&rsquo;t you often heard of &ldquo;AI=Artificial Intelligence&rdquo; lately?<br /> <br /> AI is no longer a term in SF movies only and is coming closer to our real world. AI played chess or go with a human and beat him.<br /> AI is applied in self-driving technology of automobiles. Probably, you have already heard such news.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Why did Pro-face that is an HMI manufacturer pick up this term as a keyword for Industry tech trend?<br /> It&rsquo;s because we think this AI technology will become important even in a FA industry we engage in.&nbsp;</p>

<span style="font-size:16px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">GP4100 series is a high-performance model that supports data collection and mobile remote monitoring despite its small size.<br /> &nbsp;Three installation case examples of compact HMI are introduced this time.</span></span><br /> &nbsp;

<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Recently, &nbsp;&ldquo;IoT&rdquo; had been widely known. There&rsquo;s not a single day when the term, &ldquo;IoT&rdquo; is not seen on a news.<br /> Preceded by that term only, customers have trouble imagining a specific effect of IoT and also they think its introduction cost is high. That&rsquo;s why more customers may not be able to take the first step to adopt IoT.<br /> <br /> A purpose of adopting IoT is to make a profit in a plant.<br /> But they don&rsquo;t want spend a large amount of money on it because its effect is not clear. In addition, they don&rsquo;t want the equipment to be stopped or defects to be produced.<br /> <span style="color:#0000CD;">The point is how it is introduced with a lower cost or in an easier way.</span></span></span>

<p style="color: rgb(0, 78, 162); font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic;">&quot;In order to check a state of occurring alarms on a paintline,I have to get changed into my work clothes and enter the site. After checking it, I come out to get tools needed for recovery andgo back. &quot;<br /> <span style="font-size: 14px;">- Maintenance&nbsp;staff&nbsp;(Customer&#39;s comment) ,Japan</span></p>

<p style="color: rgb(0, 78, 162); font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic;">&quot;It&rsquo;s really hard to check problems and change data of robots in a plant located overseas. &quot;<br /> <span style="font-size: 14px;">- Maintenance&nbsp;manager&nbsp;(Customer&#39;s comment) ,Korea</span></p>

<div class="row"> <div style="padding:20px;">&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to improve more in design for differentiation from machines manufactured by other companies. That&rsquo;s why I used high-resolution illustrations and pictures or concentrated on animation to create an HMI screen. But the screen&rsquo;s response got worse and the screen could not be used.&rdquo; Have you ever had such an experience?<br /> We will introduce a trick to create a smart screen to those who are in charge of creating HMI screens.</div> </div>

Have you ever heard of &ldquo;UX&rdquo;?<br /> UX is short for User Experience and it means experience and satisfaction users get when using products or services. The word is often used mainly for applications or Web services, but we think the policy of UX is important also in the field of hardware products.

Recently, “IoT” had been widely known. There’s not a single day when the term, “IoT” is not seen on a news. Preceded by that term only, customers have trouble imagining a specific effect of IoT and also they think its introduction cost is high. That’s why more customers may not be able to take the first step to adopt IoT.

<p style="color: rgb(0, 78, 162); font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic;">&quot; Even short-time breakdown will create a great impact if it is repeated.<br /> I wish I could easily see camera images to identify the cause, but there&#39;s an issue of cost.&nbsp;&quot;<br /> <span style="font-size: 14px;">- Maintenance manager(Customer&#39;s comment), Korea</span></p> <p style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;">&nbsp;</p>

<div class="right"> <p style="color: rgb(0, 78, 162); font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic;">&quot;I can get even tuning of robots done with the Pro-face&#39;s HMI. How amazing! No more device for robots only is required.&quot;<br /> <span style="font-size: 14px;">- &nbsp;Maintenance manager(Customer&#39;s comment), Japan</span></p> </div>

<p style="color: rgb(0, 78, 162); font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic;">&quot;Raw materials got stuck in the hopper and its motor broke down. That stopped the production line for a long time. We thought thorough predictive maintenance was needed.&quot;<br /> <span style="font-size: 14px;">- Maintenance manager(Customer&#39;s comment), Australia</span></p> <p style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="font-family:'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style:italic; font-size:20px; color:#004ea2">&quot;Our plan for new traceablity system has one major problem, it costs a lot to replace the old equipment.<br /> But Pro-face&#39;s small units complete our traceablity system in a low-cost way.<br /> <span style="font-size:14px;">- Production engineering manager (Customer&#39;s comment) ,Japan</span><br /> &nbsp;</p>

<p style="color: rgb(0, 78, 162); font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic;">&quot;Because there are lots of oil-mist and dusts on the production site, an ordinary PC breaks down as soon as it is installed.&quot;<br /> <span style="font-size: 14px;">- Production engineering manager (Customer&#39;s comment) ,Japan</span></p>

<p style="color: rgb(0, 78, 162); font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic;">&quot;Every time an alarm occurs, I travel back and forth between the PC and the work pieces on the production line. I&#39;d like to make it more effective using a tablet or smartphone.&quot;<br /> <span style="font-size: 14px;">- Line manager&nbsp;(Customer&#39;s comment) ,US</span></p>