As an industry already steeped in a host of efficiency-enhancing processes and techniques, whether this be through the use of flow-lines, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), single-minute exchange of die (SMED) or through greater automation, the principle of what manufacturers are striving to achieve remains the same: to remove waste from processes so that only value-added activities remain.
Increasing margins in the face of rising commodity costs is key to success and is playing a fundamental role when choosing to invest in new equipment. As a result, food and beverage manufacturers are paying even greater attention to how new innovation can further reduce wastage in all aspects of production, such as time, manual intervention and production downtime, to maximise output and ultimately increase profit margins. One area of technological innovation that can have a significant, positive, impact in output efficiency is the user interface (UI).
People work best in a comfortable workspace. Put simply, this is the thinking behind the 5S methodology, a key element in lean manufacturing. Both concepts originated in Japan in the 1980s: lean manufacturing as a means of reducing waste and focusing on value-adding operations in the manufacturing process, and 5S as a housekeeping technique to increase efficiency by creating a well-organised, clearly signposted, uncluttered working environment.
5S is finding a new life as a principle governing UI design, which is likewise concerned with efficient workspaces. Easy-to-understand, simple-to-use interfaces are especially important given the characteristics of the flexible contemporary workforce, in which employees are expected to multi-task, yet may be transient and not totally conversant in the local language. Add ‘clunky’ and illogical UIs to the mix and the opportunities for errors and lost production multiply.
In keeping with the lean manufacturing philosophy, the purpose of the UI is to make the operator’s interaction with the machine or system as simple and efficient as possible. If the need to learn the UI can be minimised (or, better still, eliminated), the operator will become productive faster. A poorly designed UI, on the other hand, will increase changeover times between processes and increase the chance of errors.
The five steps of 5S are:
Each describes specific actions. They clearly apply to more than manufacturing (for example, in organising the office environment or the files on a computer), but they are particularly valuable when considering the design of an efficient UI.
A manufacturing implementation of 5S would remove unnecessary tools and equipment that are not needed to complete a task. In UI design, sort means only offering the functionality and features that the user actually needs. Adding endless and unnecessary functionality will not make a good UI, so ask what must be included.
A useful approach is to create ‘profiles’ for typical users of the equipment based on the tasks they do regularly, how often they use the equipment and the skill levels they have. There may be more than one type of user, so create a profile for each.
Identify and arrange everything in the work area. This is often achieved by having all the required tools arranged on a shadow board (in other words, a place for everything and everything in its place). This means incorporating a clear, consistent and easy-to-understand menu structure and labelling, in which all settings and features are grouped and organised accordingly and are simple to navigate.
Clean the area. Pay attention to aesthetics. Buttons need to be clear and consistent, symbols need to be easily understood and consistently applied, text needs to be readable and the layout must be obvious.
Adding touches such as swipe gestures and animations may work well on top-end tablet computers, but in terms of usability they may add little and potentially slow down response time.
Make the work area easy to maintain. The first three steps provide a simple, focused and easy-to-navigate UI. The final two – standardise and sustain – make it intuitive. Computers and user interfaces have been around for a long time and people are familiar with a particular way of working. For example, because all web browsers share the same basic UI, users have become comfortable with common features. If a browser changes these, it will probably fail.
As touchscreen devices have become more ubiquitous, new techniques are being developed to perform basic functions (the long press has replaced the right click, for example). As these techniques become standard in the mass market, they need to be adopted by other touchscreen interfaces for them to be intuitive. Trying to make your UI revolutionary will only confuse end users.
Maintain and review standards. Firstly, ensure that any new features you add to the product fit in with the existing hierarchy. Secondly, continuously improve the user interface by engaging with customers to understand what they want and how they use your product.
As a global manufacturer of coding and marking solutions for the food and beverage sectors, Domino recognised early the need to develop one single, simple touchscreen interface to manage our complete range of continuous ink jet, thermal transfer overlay and laser coding products.
Our QuickStep user interface is renowned for its consistency, usability and the simplicity of its menu structure in controlling coding equipment, and is recognised for its ability to be easily customised to suit individual production requirements.
An intuitive, flexible and reliable UI can therefore add significant benefits to food and beverage production environments. By enabling centralised control in the workplace and incorporating intelligent software solutions, manufacturers can achieve the highest levels of OEE and minimise costs, while at the same time maximising output.
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