REHM - User interface design for the ViCon machine control system

When software is fundamentally revised, the design of the user interface is also important. BUSSE solved this task in a team with the programming experts from artiso for Rehm Thermal Systems GmbH.

The customer, based in Blaubeuren near Ulm, manufactures production equipment for the electronics and photovoltaics industry, such as soldering systems, drying and coating systems. Rehm supplies the automotive industry as well as companies in medical technology, aerospace, power electronics or military technology. At its headquarters and production site in Blaubeuren, the company coordinates 26 agencies in 24 countries worldwide.

For the new generation of reflow convection soldering systems (VICON VisionX series), Rehm had the software comprehensively updated, among other things with a new graphical user interface including touch screen, which is used to control the machines in PCB production. Numerous production steps and specifications have to be taken into account, and a clear structure and prioritization in the design of input and output values for machine monitoring is a priority. The main screen thus contains alarms, favorites, machine status, options and a display area to ensure optimum monitoring of the machine. Different system variants in different sizes must be able to be displayed responsively on the main screen. During operation, the machine must display all messages, commands and parameters for monitoring in the main screen. At the same time, new products can be created and certain properties can be copied during production. An accompanying icon concept helps the user to grasp what is displayed on the screen more quickly.

A style guide was created to accompany the interface, which specifies the color scheme, fonts and font sizes as well as dimensions on the screen. This makes it possible to transfer the interface to other screens.

The collaboration with our client, artiso solutions GmbH, involved working in agile processes according to Scrum, which avoids unnecessary development loops in software development. artiso was responsible for the software development and the operating logic.

With this order, BUSSE has once again proven how important a well-designed user interface is for a competitive and future-proof product and interface design.