What is an HMI system and why does it matter in manufacturing?

A Human-Machine Interface (HMI) is a dashboard or control panel that allows operators to interact with and monitor industrial equipment. In manufacturing, an effective HMI reduces complexity, minimizes human error, and enables faster response to production issues, directly impacting operational efficiency.

How does Greenheck's advanced HMI reduce training time?

By simplifying the operator interface and standardizing controls across manufacturing stages, Greenheck's HMI lowers the learning curve for new and cross-trained employees. A more intuitive layout means operators can become proficient more quickly without extensive hands-on instruction.

What production bottlenecks does the HMI system address?

The system targets delays caused by manual intervention, inconsistent process controls, and communication gaps between manufacturing stages. By automating key workflows and providing real-time visibility, the HMI helps maintain consistent production flow and reduces downtime.

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Engineering & Construction

Greenheck’s Advanced HMI System: The Key to Streamlined and Automated Operations

Greenheck has implemented an advanced Human-Machine Interface (HMI) system to streamline and automate its manufacturing operations. The simplified interface reduces operator training time and eliminates production bottlenecks across multiple manufacturing stages, improving overall efficiency.

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By MarketScale · February 18, 2025, 3:25 AM UTCGreenheckHmi SystemIndustrial PaintingIntellifinishing

Key takeaways

Greenheck's advanced HMI system simplifies operator interaction with complex manufacturing equipment

Reduced training time allows operators to get up to speed faster and with fewer errors

Automated workflows eliminate bottlenecks and improve throughput across production stages

Greenheck has implemented a highly efficient HMI (Human-Machine Interface) system to streamline its production process, ensuring ease of use and accessibility for all team members without extensive training. The system is designed to optimize the paint carrier strategy, ensuring seamless movement of products through the manufacturing stages.

The system is designed to optimize the paint carrier strategy, ensuring seamless movement of products through the manufacturing stages.

The process begins at the loading station, where production orders are entered and loaded onto the paint line based on a recipe system. The products then move through a five-stage auto wash system, which removes dust, grease, and grime, leaving only bare metal. Following this, the products pass through a dry-off oven, reaching temperatures of 150-175°F to eliminate any remaining oils and chemicals.

The next stage involves painting, starting with the robotic paint booth, powered by FANUC robots and a Norton paint system. Approximately 95% of the painting process is automated, with the remaining 5% completed manually for touch-ups. After quality checks, the products enter the cure oven, which reaches 375-400°F for a 35-minute cure cycle, followed by a 10-15 minute cooldown.

Approximately 95% of the painting process is automated, with the remaining 5% completed manually for touch-ups.

For products requiring a two-coat process, an interloop system allows for an additional gel oven treatment, creating a tacky texture before the second coat is applied. Once the final coating is cured, the products move to unloading and assembly, completing a highly streamlined and automated process that enhances efficiency and quality.

Video TranscriptExpand ↓

Having a recipe system for the carriers for our products is very important particularly because it is the most streamlined option available. We want it to be ease of use and ease of access for all of our team members without having to go through specific training. So this is our system overview. We're standing right now between the load and unload. We take our products through the certain pain carrier strategy, we load them onto the pain line based off the recipe. Once we load those production orders in, they'll go down and around into this middle area and do a hundred and eighty degree turnaround into the auto wash. So a five stage auto wash system, it'll take those metals, strip it all the way down off, take reduce all the dust, grease, and grime to where there's nothing but just bare metal. It'll then go into the dry off oven. The production will come up to about a hundred and fifty, hundred and seventy five degrees to burn up all that residual oil and chemical. And then it'll go into our key room and then our paint booth. We have our first paint booth, which is our robot paint booth. We have two robots that are divided by FANUC. The entire paint system is provided by Norton. The second paint booth is our touch up. Typically, our ratio is about ninety five percent where everything's automated, and five percent of that is touch up or manually covered. Once all quality checks have been made in our manual, it'll then go into our CURE oven. Oven. Now this inner loop here is another opportunity for us to expand into different types of products that require a two coat paint. When we do that, it'll go into a gel oven that'll bring it up to about that two hundred degree temperature mark, bring that paint up to a sticky tacky texture, and then it'll go back into the paint booth to apply a second coat. Same through the robot, another touch up and manual, and then go into the pure oven. Pure oven will bring that production close-up to three hundred and seventy five to four hundred degrees, thirty five minutes total of pure, and then another ten to fifteen minutes of cool down on this top line area and then into our unload. Once it comes up unload, we move that product into our assembly. So far, the overall production has been going very smoothly.