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From traysealer operator to graphic designer

Given the multifunctional nature of modern packaging machines, an intuitively designed user interface makes what can sometimes be very complex processes more human, in the truest sense of the word. In the food packaging sector in particular, the benefits it brings in terms of safety and product quality cannot be overestimated.

The reasons are obvious: given the ever faster machine speeds and the increasingly complex and wide-ranging setting and control options on high-tech packaging machines, converting control commands into pictograms gives users a clearer overview, enabling them to respond more quickly and also to take preemptive action.

Pictograms visualize the entire packaging process
In designing the user interface for the new generation of traysealers, Multi-vac and its partner, the Würzburg-based industrial design consultancy CADERA DESIGN, have achieved a ground-breaking development for the packaging industry in the shape of the human-machine interface HMI 2.0.

The complex control technology used in the packaging machines had to be converted into a simple graphical language with corresponding input but-tons on the touch screen. The newly designed user interface not only displays error messages and instructions for troubleshooting as well as general maintenance instructions but also visualizes the entire packaging process in intuitive pictograms. For example, standard information about the production job is displayed continuously and updated as status infor-mation.

The packaging recipe has an exceptionally simple structure. Details of the individual stages (tray feed, upper web, lower web) are listed hierarchically, making them very easy to use. Recipes and recipe  changes can be saved so that they can be retrieved in an instant for repeat production jobs.

On-screen animations
The user interface is much more than a collection of nicely drawn pictograms, however. It also offers on-screen animations and short film se-quences to illustrate especially complex processes. For example, one animation shows how to thread in the new film when changing the lidding film reel.

As the control unit is a fully-fledged industrial PC with optional networking capability, all the operating steps involved in the production process can also be logged from start to finish if required.

All in all, the graphical user interface on the new generation of Multivac traysealers is a successful blend of emotion and rationality. Over the me-dium term the visualization system and user interface developed for HMI 2.0 will be rolled out across the entire Multivac product range.