Red and green to grey — Why switch my HMI?
Many operators are perfectly happy with their trusty red and green HMIs and can’t imagine why they should give them up for a dull greyscale display. When they take a closer look, they usually find out that grey is beautiful.
We spend an incredible amount of time staring at screens. The average American watches two hours and 49 minutes of TV and spends over four hours on their smart phones each day. It’s not a problem if they get bored or distracted and fail to see a hilarious cat video. For people operating manufacturing and process facilities, though, failure to notice an alarm could have disastrous consequences.
To support operators in their critical roles, facility managers are turning to high-performance HMIs. I talk to many people thinking about making this transition and consistently hear the same three questions.
1. Aren’t we just swapping our red and green screens for greyscale monitors?
2. Won’t operators miss the familiar technology?
3. How big is the startup investment?
Author:
Bob Kanel
Technology Manager
ABB Inc.
Power Generation and Water automation business