Services, security, ergonomics to reshape HMI market
6 May 2010
Dedham, Massachusetts – Demand for HMI services will be driven by the end users’ and OEMs’ needs for additional supplier-provided technical expertise to support HMI software and systems, as end users’ and OEMs’ will not fully replace the internal support personnel lost during this past recession, ARC Advisory Group forecasts.
As a result, the HMI software and services market is in a period of recovery, with the services portion expected to grow at a higher rate than the total market, said a new ARC study, noting how the global recession had had a major impact on the worldwide HMI software and services market.
Stronger growth is expected to resume during the latter part of the five-year forecast period, as users replace HMI software based on older operating systems with new software packages based on operating systems designed with security in mind.
“Security issues presented by older operating systems will drive upgrades from legacy HMI software to the latest HMI platforms. The security issue, combined with the greater use of more powerful, 64-bit microprocessors, will shift users from HMI solutions based on Windows XP or Server 2003 platforms to those based on Windows 7 or Server 2008.” according to Craig Resnick, research director, and author of ARC’s report.
HMI software solutions that focused on the building automation industry and other non-manufacturing applications experienced the most rapid growth. These HMI software solutions were applied in either off-the-shelf or embedded forms and were accompanied by a full range of HMI services.
Off-the-shelf HMI software products are largely replacing proprietary, device-specific solutions that often lack the full feature set and adherence to industry standards found in the latest HMI software solutions. In the traditional HMI software markets, meanwhile, growth is accelerating in the rapidly expanding process and infrastructure industries such as oil & gas, water & waste, electric power, food & beverage, and mining & metals.
Ergometrics
Operator effectiveness is essential to minimize the risks of accidents, eliminate unscheduled downtime, and maximize production quality. This requires deploying the latest HMI software packages designed for “ergonometrics,” where increased ergonomics help increase KPI and metric results, said ARC.
These offer the best resolution to support 3D solutions and visualization based on technologies such as Microsoft Silverlight. Integrating real-time live video into HMI software tools provide another excellent opportunity to maximize operator effectiveness. Live video provides a “fourth dimension” for intelligent visualization and control solutions.
Regional growth
The Asia Pacific and Latin American HMI software and services markets will be the fastest growing regions. North America and EMEA will grow at a considerably slower rate. ARC believes that the slower forecasted growth in North America and EMEA is because a significant amount of HMI software has already been adopted in these mature markets. Greenfield and expansions in process industries, such as chemical, electric power, mining & metals, oil & gas, pulp & paper, and refining, as well as growth in the discrete industries in China and India, are helping to drive the HMI software and services markets in Asia Pacific and Latin America.
