Noticeably Easier.
Measurably Faster.

When editing an HMI with HELIO, the actual live data of your PLC can be displayed in the editor at any time. So you don't see a static image of your application, but always the "real" HMI.
Since there is no compile step between the editor and the finished HMI, there are no time-consuming and nerve-racking intermediate steps. This is more than WYSIWYG - it's "What You See Is What It Is".

YOUR BENEFITS:

• Rapid Prototyping on the target hardware with realistic machine data is crucial for creating efficient and progressive HMIs.
• The ability to quickly iterate and try out ideas significantly accelerates product development.

THUS HELIO:

HELIO allows you to design and iterate the HMI as close as possible to the machine and its live data.

HELIO is based on web technology and thus independent of the hardware or software being used. With the development environment, you can work cross-platform on any device running a current browser, whether Windows, Linux or Mac. And the HMIs developed with HELIO also run securely and stably in the browser - even on mobile operating systems such as iOS and Android.

That's what makes HELIO future-proof, because replacing hardware - whether it's displays, computers or machine components - has no impact on usability. HELIO is also completely flexible when it comes to the type of input method - whether it's mouse, keyboard, or touch.

YOUR BENEFITS:

• High resilience to changing hardware or software requirements.
• The ability to quickly iterate and try out ideas significantly accelerates product development.

THUS HELIO:

HELIO makes you and your HMI independent and flexible by relying on proven standards.

Because editing HMIs in HELIO is so easy, better results can be achieved faster. This reduces training and handover times and is easy on the budget. So with HELIO, creating HMIs is no longer a software development project, because it doesn't require any programming skills. This allows your PLC engineers to focus on their core competence.

YOUR BENEFITS:

• To deliver consistent and reliable HMIs, you should write as little software as possible because software projects are difficult to budget, manage and scale.
• Industrial machines are often developed for highly specialized use cases in small to medium quantities. This requires a high degree of flexibility to different plants and customer requirements. It is precisely these special adaptations that are better realized through configuration than through the use of code. This makes them faster and easier to implement.

THUS HELIO:

• Due to the user-friendly no-code approach, HELIO also enables project managers and UX designers to actively participate in the implementation of HMIs.
• Thanks to HELIO, you can maintain and support the HMIs of your machines in the long term.

HELIO is inspired by the architecture of modern websites. This means that the elements of the HMI intelligently adapt to the respective end device.

Regardless of whether it's a 27-inch monitor, tablet or smartphone: All HMIs built with HELIO automatically optimize their display for the respective screen size - without having to create a separate layout for it. This is true responsiveness without compromise.

YOUR BENEFITS:

Industrial HMIs of the future must be highly adaptable. There are many reasons for this: Independence from hardware suppliers, availability of larger HMI panels, or the desire of customers to be able to monitor machines from anywhere in the production plant using tablets.

THUS HELIO:

• Forget about absolute positioning. With HELIO, you design flexible content instead of rigid pixels.
• This approach enables the creation of a content structure for HMIs that can be adapted to different panel and screen sizes, as well as different forms of user input.

User interfaces that that prioritize users and usability work better, faster more easily, because they are more than just superficial enhancements. Thanks to intelligent UX components, HELIO takes care of the interface design for you.

At HMI Project, we have been designing and developing internationally award-winning user interfaces for over ten years. This expertise has gone into the development of HELIO.

YOUR BENEFITS:

A positive user experience is a great competitive advantage because it allows customers to realize the full potential of their machines. But a successful UX requires a lot of time and effort. To achieve this, product teams must create HMIs that not only reflect their own mental model but above all that of their customers. This can be challenging, especially when the team consists mostly of engineers who are also involved in the development of the PLC that controls the machine.

THUS HELIO:

The HELIO, or rather the HELIO design system, incorporates the ideas, knowledge and experience of our design and UX specialists. We have more than 20 years of experience, especially in the industrial context. Therefore, we took care of many design decisions for you, so that your team can focus on the most important task: the development of the actual product.

HELIO is a tool to roll out your design system consistently across machines and provide a consistent user interface across all products. This allows operators to intuitively work with any of your HMIs. This reduces learning times and communicates a consistent corporate UI to the outside world.

THE CHALLENGE:

Ensuring a consistent UX across different teams is a major challenge due to the different needs, requirements, and technical realities of each product. Establishing a design system that meets the needs of all products and teams requires a lot of time and effort.

THUS HELIO:

HELIO gives you a head start with its integrated design system, which already includes the key input and output elements. By separating content from style, HELIO ensures that product teams stay within the boundaries of this design system.

Data management is an often underestimated and unpopular, but essential part of your work on an HMI. Creating a data model that is both understandable and maintainable requires close collaboration with the PLC team. In practice, there are two ways to achieve this: The first approach is the PLC-driven approach, in which you import and take over an existing data model from the PLC.

However, a different approach is necessary when your PLC has not yet been implemented. In this case, you model variables and their types together with the PLC team, which is known as the HMI-driven approach. Both approaches sound very exhausting, don't they?

THUS HELIO:

HELIO helps you to realize both approaches. You can simply drag and drop the PLC data model into your HMI or quickly build a structured data model in the HMI, add metadata to it and discuss it with your teammates.