Cost-effective development of bespoke panel instrumentation

When it comes to machines, panel instruments are no longer about just giving information or providing a read out. A modern panel display has become a true interface for a machine, in certain cases allowing full user control via a touch screen, or automated control via programmed logic or algorithms.

The conventional approach for developing a human-machine-interface (HMI) display is a modular one - taking a single-board computer and integrating this with an off-the-shelf display connected to various sensors and control elements. This approach has its pros and cons. While the system will be tailored specifically to suit the required application, this development route requires both expertise and time. A project could easily take six months, with costs running into the tens of thousands of pounds.

However, what we are increasingly seeing is that specifiers and machine builders are looking for something different - an off-the-shelf panel that is relatively low in cost but that offers scope for levels of customisation previously only achievable by taking a modular approach. The key advantage being significantly reduced development costs. We call this 'bespoke as standard.'

Rising demand for customisation

Satisfying this demand for 'bespoke as standard' products presents a big challenge for manufacturers and how they approach the development of the next generation of machines with panels. Adapting to this mindset will require some big shifts in how the market conducts itself, but we are finally starting to see these happen.

From our own experiences, we are seeing that the market already expects this functionality. Many are now explicitly demanding the ability to achieve a higher level of customisation without long development times or writing extensive quantities of code. As manufacturers work to meet these shifting expectations, we expect that the market for panel displays of this type will grow rapidly.

At the end of the day, the manufacturing sector is no different to any other. Engineers are consumers too and, as they came to expect this functionality from their consumer products, it was really only a matter of time until their expectations of the systems they use in their jobs began to match. As the demands and expectations of these system engineers grow, so we expect manufacturers - not just of displays - to respond with products and tools aimed at the industrial sectors which offer ever-increasing levels of user customisation.

Innovation in the industrial sector

As much as it presents a challenge for device manufacturers, it is also a major new opportunity for innovation. It is a trend that is only going to grow over the next few years and it will represent a big shift in the industrial sector.

With a 'bespoke as standard' approach, panel instruments will play an ever more important role in machine design. Standardised communication protocols will provide greater scope for intelligent components within the machine to start 'talking' to each other, and with this will come greater levels of automation and control, while offering a significant reduction in development costs compared to a more conventional approach to design.

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