Pioneer Process Control –
Next Generation User Interface for Plastic Manufacturing
Initial extrusion project
A user interface for the industrial machines of KraussMaffei Extrusion GmbH. As part of the KraussMaffei Group, the company is one of the world's leading manufacturers of machinery and systems for the extrusion and recycling of plastic and rubber products. The company's portfolio covers all injection molding, extrusion and reaction process technologies.
The aim of the project was to simplify and harmonize the complex and heterogeneous manifestations of the user interfaces existing in the field of extrusion technology. The project was developed in a user-centered manner. Context analyses and user and expert surveys were used to identify the requirements, and the new way of operation and usability were tested with prototypes. The focus is on the depiction of the most important key figures, the monitoring of the production and notifications of the systems. Interactive illustrations, favorite pages and workflows help users to manage complex processes. The result is a holistically optimized user experience combined with a high-quality graphical design. The design is clearly structured and functional. It was developed responsively and can be used on various screen sizes and smart devices.
Corporate User Interface
Right from the start of the project, the aim was to develop a flexible standard that could be transferred to other business units of the KraussMaffei Group in the future. After the initial release of the user interface for foam extrusion in October 2020, we were able to provide conceptual and design support for projects in the injection molding and additive manufacturing divisions, in addition to other extrusion divisions (compounding, foil). The basis for this was the design of the initial extrusion project, which has now been enhanced and adapted to the new production requirements. The result is a modern, modular and flexibly expandable corporate UI. It reflects key aspects of the corporate design and contributes to a consistent brand image.
More information
Project Summary
KraussMaffei Website
Early development testing and project summary videos:
Implementation Tests Video
Project Summary Video
The project was awarded the iF DESIGN AWARD 2022 and the Red Dot Award: Brands & Communication Design 2021.
iF Design Award Website
Red Dot Website
German Design Award Website
Tasks
Tooling
Features
Designed for various screen sizes of industrial touch panels
Clearly structured information using widgets, dialogues and dashboards
Uniform messaging system
Next Generation User Interface for Plastic Manufacturing
Guided workflows / step-by-step instructions
Custom dashboard widgets for precisionPrint
Individual dashboard elaboration for powerPrint for production monitoring
Abstract, easy to understand illustration with visual error localization
Dashboard for compounding systems including library for flexible illustration of extruders
Quick access via process based navigation
Individual corporate icon-style
Industrial Plastic Manufacturing
Business Units & Technologies
The portfolio of the KraussMaffei Group includes industrial machinery for extrusion (compounding, tire, profile, sheet, foam and pipe extrusion) and for recycling plastic and rubber products.
Furthermore, the company has a great know-how in injection molding and automation, offering hydraulic and all-electric injection molding machines as well as a wide range of industrial and linear robots.
New in the program are the additive manufacturing systems. The powerPrint system combines the proven technologies of extrusion and automation for the realization of large-format, industrial 3D prints based on thermoplastic granulates. precisionPrint, on the other hand, uses the stereolithography system for the cost-efficient production of high-resolution and complex smaller parts. All technologies are expected to use a new-generation interface for process monitoring and machine operation in the long term.
Design Challenges
The main challenge in the initial project (extrusion) was to simplify and harmonize the complex and heterogeneous manifestations of the previous user interfaces. In addition, merging the individual requirements of the different production types and business units has been a difficult task due to the wide range of involved technologies. We achieved to develop a flexible and modular system exactly for this purpose. The newly developed generally applicable standards meet all production-specific requirements. The new design and operating concept can now be transferred to other business segments and can also be expanded easily and flexibly in the future.
Industrial extrusion machine
Product examples (Rubber, Insulation, Pipes, Compund)
Multi-panel workstation
Tire line
Mulit-touch panel hardware
Large-format industrial 3D printer "powerPrint
3D printing via stereolithography with "precisionPrint
Application on Smart Devices