UX and HMI Design for Mechanical Engineering: Efficient Control of Machines, Plants, and Industrial Systems
UX and HMI Design for Mechanical Engineering: Efficient Control of Machines, Plants, and Industrial Systems
HMI Design (Human-Machine Interface Design) encompasses the design of digital control interfaces for machines, plants, and industrial systems. At Splore, the focus is on two project types for industry and B2B: HMI machine controls for production facilities and manufacturing lines, as well as embedded devices with their own user interface. The emphasis is on digital interaction: control concepts, information architectures, and interface designs that enable professionals to work efficiently and safely under real working conditions. Splore works as an integral part of development teams, bringing UX methodology into industrial product development.
What is HMI Design — and why does it require specialized UX expertise?
HMI Design — Human-Machine Interface Design — is the design of digital control interfaces for machines, plants, and industrial systems. It concerns the interfaces where professionals work with complex technology: production facilities, process plants, machine controls, laboratory equipment, embedded systems with their own user interface.
What connects these systems: They are operated in an industrial environment under real working conditions. In shift operations, under time pressure, often on multiple systems simultaneously, with decisions that require documentation. Misoperation has consequences: production downtime, safety risks, incorrect measurement results. UX Design in this context is not an aesthetic optimization but an operational necessity.
Generic consumer UX vocabulary is not sufficient here; the domain requires an understanding of industrial workflows, regulatory frameworks, shift dynamics, and the specific requirements that apply in factories, plants, and laboratories. The difference from generic UX Design lies in the domain: HMI expertise requires knowledge of the conditions at production lines and control rooms, the requirements for safety, availability, and multi-machine operation. This expertise cannot be transferred from consumer app projects.
Specifically, this is demonstrated at Splore in two project types that are handled in mechanical engineering: HMI machine controls for production facilities, process plants, and manufacturing lines, as well as embedded devices with their own user interface, laboratory equipment, measuring devices, networked industrial devices.
Splore focuses on the digital interface: control concepts, information architectures, and user interfaces. Hardware industrial design — control panels, housings, physical control elements — is handled by specialized industrial design partners. This is a conscious specialization, not a full-service model: Instead of bundling all disciplines under one roof, the focus is on digital interaction. With a depth in UX methodology that enables focused boutique work.
The two Splore action fields —UX Product VisionandUX / Digital Product Design— are applied in the HMI area just as they are inMedical Technology. The same methodology, different domain.
Why HMI UX is a strategic tool
Why HMI UX is a strategic tool
Many industrial companies treat UX as a downstream design step, something that happens after functional development. In practice, it regularly shows that this sequence creates risks that could be avoided. HMI UX acts in six strategic areas:
Anyone developing a new control concept for a production facility invests significantly in software architecture, interface definition, and implementation. Changes after delivery require field updates, training programs, and cost customer trust.UX Researchbefore development checks whether the control concept fits the real workflows before the effort arises.
Industrial companies often work with established development and consulting partners for years. This has its advantages and its blind spots: methods that have never been questioned, conventions that are considered set, design decisions whose origin no one knows anymore. Splore brings an external, unbiased view to such established assumptions. No 'we've always done it this way', no relationship reflex. But the question of whether the current solution actually addresses the right problem, a variant of the Splore approach 'Designing the Right Thing'.
Operating personnel have little tolerance for systems that slow down workflows. If a new machine control is perceived as an obstacle, workarounds arise that endanger efficiency and safety. UX secures acceptance by taking real user requirements as a starting point, not internal assumptions about what operating personnel might need.
Industrial systems are becoming more powerful: more functions, more sensors, more networking. The task of HMI UX is not to reduce this complexity but to prepare it in control interfaces so that professionals receive the right information at the right moment. Not less functionality, but clearer status communication and prioritization.
Industrial companies in Germany are under pressure: international competition, increased customer expectations, digital transformation. User experiences are becoming a field of differentiation that is technically harder to copy than pure functionality. Splore's vision: to continue 'Made in Germany' not only as a technical quality seal but to reposition it internationally through outstanding UX, as proof that German industrial products are easier to use than what competitors deliver.
Industrial control systems are evolving towards AI-supported assistance functions: anomaly detection, predictive maintenance, intelligent data preparation. Splore does not work as an AI developer but thinks from a UX perspective: How is an AI function integrated into a control interface so that operating personnel understands what the AI suggests, builds trust, and continues to carry responsibility? This question is typically negotiated inUX Product Visionprojects when companies plan their next machine generation.
How Splore works in the HMI context
Industrial UX projects differ from software UX in one central point: The usage contexts cannot be simulated in the office. Anyone designing a control concept for a packaging plant must understand how the plant runs in three-shift operation, what decisions the operating personnel make in what order, and where information gaps arise in everyday work.
Discovery on-site, not in the lab
Splore goes where the work takes place: to the production line, to the control room, to the laboratory device. Observing operating personnel under real conditions — shift operation, time pressure, multi-machine operation — provides insights that no workshop can replace. Only when it is clear what decisions the operating personnel make in which situation can control interfaces be designed that truly fit the work. The [Discovery Phase](/ux-research) forms the foundation for every control concept.
Control concepts and information architecture
From the research results, control concepts, navigation structures, and information architectures are developed that map industrial workflows. In theKrones projectSplore implemented exactly that: translated requirements into new control workflows, built a new information architecture, and created navigation andUI Designfor the central machine control. Details about the project in the reference section below.
Product Trio in industrial teams
Splore is not an external service provider that hands over concepts and designs. Splore works as an integral part of the development team, with the aim that after the project ends, methodology and design decisions are anchored in the team. This distinguishes Splore's work from the classic agency model, where results are delivered and handed over. In the HMI context, this means: direct collaboration with software development, mechanical engineering engineers, and product management over months. This working method ensures that UX decisions are technically feasible and domain knowledge flows into the design. UX Sparring complements the operational work with an external perspective in decision meetings and concept reviews.
The Splore action fields also structure the work here:UX Product Visionfor strategic target image development, for example when a machine builder conceives the next machine generation.UX / Digital Product Designfor operational implementation in the development team, from research to conception to interface design.
Project types and application fields
The two project types that Splore handles in the HMI area differ in usage context, technology, and requirement profile. What they have in common: They are digital control interfaces for professionals in the industrial environment.
HMI Machine Control
Control systems for production facilities, process plants, and manufacturing lines. Here, the digital interface meets the physical product: The control interface controls real machines and processes. TheKrones projectshows this project type: The central machine control for beverage production facilities was newly conceived as a web UI, with new control workflows, a consistent module logic across machine modules, and a consistentdesign system. Typical added values: more efficient workflows, remote operability, less training effort during commissioning and machine change, higher safety through clearer control guidance.
Controls for solar systems and other energy generation systems are a comparable case: They capture production data and energy flows, coordinate feed-in and consumption, enable remote operation, and network with higher-level energy management systems. The methodological challenge is the same: to make the right information visible at the right moment of decision without overwhelming the operating personnel with data floods.
Embedded Devices
Embedded systems with their own user interface: laboratory equipment, measuring devices, networked industrial devices. In newer generation laboratory devices, touch interfaces, app connections, and classic hardware control elements run side by side. The question is not which control logic is best, but how they are coordinated so that professionals can switch between control levels without breaks. In embedded projects like these, the two Splore action fieldsUX Product VisionandUX / Digital Product Design, from control concept and prototyping to UI design for the embedded interface, are applied to the specific embedded setting.
Industry Focus
Plant and Mechanical Engineering, process management, laboratory equipment, and safety technology form the core. There is also project experience in pharma, life science, defense, and logistics. In regulated industries such asMedical Technologyand in the HealthTech sector, additional requirements apply, which Splore addresses on the respective sister pages. Regardless of the project type, the two action fields apply:UX Product Visionsets target images,UX / Digital Product Designimplements them in industrial development teams.
Typical results and customer questions
Companies working with Splore in the HMI area receive concrete results: new software products with user experiences that differentiate themselves from the competition through their UX and fulfill the brand promise. New visual UI designs that reflect the quality of the brand. Uniform user experiences for entire product families and portfolios. Uniform control logics for complex product solutions where multiple systems interact, up to the commissioning of new facilities. And well-founded decision bases for the strategic further development of industrial products, based on research with real user groups instead of internal assumptions.
The questions companies come to Splore with show what it's about in practice:
- What does our next HMI generation look like as a web application?
- How can we further improve our product UX in the next version?
- What does the next generation of machine control look like in an AI-based world?
- What are the user requirements in certain user groups and markets?
- How can we unify our portfolio?
- Where do we want to develop perspectively, and what would a concrete UX look like as a prototype?
These questions can rarely be answered with a single competence. They requireresearchwith real user groups,conception and prototyping, strategic classification, and often aUX Product Visionthat defines the target image for the next few years. An overview of previous projects is available on theCases page.
Reference: Krones Connected HMI
Krones is the world market leader for beverage production facilities. Splore works with Krones on the central machine control, the Connected HMI, which as a web UI standardizes the operation of complex production facilities. The collaboration shows how Splore works in the mechanical engineering context: from analyzing existing control workflows to developing new concepts to implementation in the development team.
Services
UX Strategy Workshop,UX Design & Prototyping.
In the project, requirements from operating personnel were translated into new control workflows, a new information architecture was built, and a consistent interface design for the HMI solutions was developed. The result: a machine control that functions as a web UI on various devices and offers operating personnel a uniform user experience, from the single machine to the networked production line.
»Exceptional design skills and quick grasp of the machine context.« — Stefan Schmidt, Krones
To the case:Krones Connected HMI
FAQ
HMI Design (Human-Machine Interface Design) is the design of digital control interfaces for professional human-machine interfaces in the industrial environment. The term encompasses machine controls and embedded devices, systems where professionals interact with a technical system via a digital interface. Unlike general UI Design, HMI Design addresses the specific requirements of industrial work environments: shift operation, time pressure, multi-machine operation, and safety-critical decisions.
An HMI (Human-Machine Interface) in the industry is the control interface through which professionals control and monitor machines, plants, and industrial systems. Typical examples are touchscreen panels on production facilities, web-based control room interfaces, and embedded displays on laboratory devices. The HMI design determines whether operating personnel can work efficiently and error-free.
Focus areas are Plant and Mechanical Engineering, process management, laboratory equipment, and safety technology. There is also project experience in pharma, life science, defense, and logistics. ForMedical Technologyand HealthTech, Splore operates its own sister pages with industry-specific depth.
HMI Design addresses the specific requirements of professional control systems: safety-critical situations, time pressure, shift operation, multi-machine operation. UI Design is the visual design layer that is part of the HMI design process. HMI Design also includes control concepts, information architectures, and integration into industrial workflows. In the HMI context, the Splore action fieldsUX Product VisionandUX / Digital Product Designare applied just as they are in other industries.
No. Splore focuses on digital interaction and control interfaces. For hardware design needs, Splore collaborates with specialized industrial design partners. This focus on the digital interface enables deep expertise in control concepts, information architectures, and interface design.
Splore works according to the Double Diamond (Discovery + Delivery) and DIN ISO 9241 in the Product Trio. Specifically: research on-site, development of control concepts and prototypes, testing with operating personnel, implementation support. Splore works as an integral part of the development team, not as an external agency.
Industrial machine controls are evolving towards web-based HMIs, AI-supported assistance functions, remote operation, and networked ecosystems. Splore supports companies with this question withUX Product VisionandUX / Digital Product Design, from a UX perspective, not as a technology provider.
Internal teams have domain knowledge but often lack dedicated UX expertise for designing professional control systems. Splore brings UX methodology, questioning mindset, and an unbiased view from comparable industrial projects into thedevelopment team. This combination of external perspective and integrated working method in the Product Trio closes the gap.
Splore, based in Hamburg, designs digital control interfaces for machines, plants, and industrial systems. One example is the Connected HMI by Krones, the world's leading manufacturer of beverage production equipment. Splore supported Krones in translating this central platform for controlling all types of machines into the world of web technology, usable from the 10-inch screen on the machine to the mobile device. More in the Case Krones Connected HMI.
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If you are facing the question of what your next generation HMI should look like, what control concepts your operating personnel actually need, or where the greatest leverage lies in your portfolio, get in touch with us.