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Sector
Control systems and engineering tools that hold up during an upset.
UX for power generation: operator displays for control systems and SCADA/HMI, plus the tools engineers use to design, manufacture and run plants. We come from the engineering side of steam turbine manufacturing and design together with the operators who carry responsibility on shift. Energy is experience from our own careers, not a client reference, and we say so openly.
In short
Beabstracto is a UX studio in Munich for complex, critical expert systems. In the energy sector we work on control systems, SCADA/HMI and the engineering software around power plants and industrial facilities: operating concept, operator displays, alarm presentation, tools for design calculations and manufacturing preparation. The founder worked as an industrial and application engineer in steam turbine manufacturing at Siemens, with P&IDs for power generation systems, thermodynamic design and SAP routings. That closeness to the plant shapes our work. We are informed by ANSI/ISA-101, VDI/VDE 3699 and EEMUA 191 as a benchmark for good practice, not as a certificate.
Where it breaks down in practice
In the control room and in the engineering office, the technology is rarely the problem. The problem is that interfaces and tools fail to show what matters at the moment it matters.
Alarm floods instead of overview
Every deviation announces itself with the same weight, and during an upset hundreds of messages arrive in a short time. The operator learns to click them away, and that is exactly when the one message that counts gets lost. An alarm concept along the principles of EEMUA 191 and ISA-18.2 is design work, not just parameter settings.
Displays that show everything and highlight nothing
The process display reproduces the plant as a flow diagram, in full colour, with every measured value. Where the plant currently stands and what comes next is something the operator has to piece together. Those who have known the displays for years cope; newcomers do not.
Legacy HMI nobody wants to touch
The displays have grown over years, and every retrofit has added a corner. Modernisation feels risky because nobody knows any more which operating sequence is anchored where. So everything stays as it is until the platform reaches end of life.
Engineering tools bypassed with Excel
The official software for design calculations, work preparation or documentation exists, but the engineers calculate alongside it in their own spreadsheets. The knowledge sits in files on network drives, not in the system. We know this from our own experience in turbine manufacturing.
Knowledge only in the veterans' heads
Experienced shift leaders see at a glance what a display conceals. When they leave, that knowledge leaves with them. An interface that makes plant states explicit is therefore also a way of securing knowledge.
Rollouts across several sites
A new control system or a new engineering tool is rarely introduced at a single location. Every site has its own habits, operating modes and key users. Without an introduction concept, local workarounds appear and the product is considered a failure even though it technically works.
How we work
We work where the plant is operated and planned, together with the operators and engineers who will use the result.
- 1
Observation in the control room and in engineering
We sit in the control room during shift handover, start-up and upsets, and we look over engineers' shoulders while they calculate and document. We note where people search, bypass and improvise. The result is a task analysis with plant states, not a wish list of features.
- 2
Domain concept with key users
With experienced operators and engineers we define which states, values and actions a display has to carry. The result is an operating concept with display hierarchy, alarm philosophy and navigation rules, agreed with control engineering and IT.
- 3
Operator displays and prototype
We design overview, area and detail displays, trend views and the alarm list, informed by ANSI/ISA-101 and VDI/VDE 3699. The prototype is clickable and filled with real plant data so operators can judge it the way they will later use it.
- 4
Scenario testing with operators
We run through upsets and routines: start-up, load change, an alarm in an auxiliary system. We check whether the situation is recognised and the right action is found. Whatever does not hold up is reworked before engineering configures a single line.
- 5
Handover and introduction
We hand over documented specifications to the teams implementing in WinCC Unified, TIA Portal, Qt/QML or web technologies, and on request we accompany the introduction: key users, training material, rollout across sites, adjustments after go-live.
Services
Four clearly cut services for professional systems
Each with a fixed team, a fixed point of contact and no onboarding time in your domain.
UX Team as a Service
A well-rehearsed UX team in three sizes, working inside your professional system from day one. Research, UI and design-to-code from one source.
S: 1 UX lead + 1 senior
M: 1 UX lead + 2 UX professionals
L: 1 UX lead + 3 to 4 UX professionals
Guaranteed cover
Design system and production-ready components
Implementation support
UX designers and coaches accompany the rollout of a new professional system on the client side, so it is actually used at go-live.
Process mapping in the business unit
Configuration from the user perspective
Key-user training
Acceptance and hypercare
UX Support
A retainer for products in operation: further development, user testing, accessibility and design-system maintenance.
Fixed allocation
Fixed point of contact
User tests in the release rhythm
WCAG 2.2 AA as the standard
Where we know this from
Steam turbine manufacturing and engineering at Siemens
The founder worked in steam turbine manufacturing at Siemens as an industrial and application engineer: manufacturing processes in SAP, P&IDs for power generation systems, thermodynamic design of turbines and auxiliaries. There he built a solution from Excel automation, a template library and an SAP connection that, according to project records, cut lead time by around 80 %. That was permanent employment, not a Beabstracto engagement; we list it as experience, not as a reference.
Control systems, HMI and legacy software in industry
For a manufacturer of industrial furnaces we modernised a legacy application for expert users that had grown over time: product architecture, information architecture, user flows and design system direction. Operating concept, alarm presentation and plant visualisation are the craft we carry from industry into the energy sector.
Mobile app for component health in industrial plants
For a provider of maintenance software we designed an app with which technicians record the condition of electronic components directly at the control cabinet, as a multi-brand design system for many industrial customers. The app is live and shows how operation in the worst moment and scaling across brands can be solved together.
Frequently asked questions
- Do you have references from power plants or control system vendors?
- No, and we do not claim to. Our experience in the energy sector comes from the founder's permanent employment in steam turbine manufacturing and engineering for power plants and industrial facilities. The UX work on control systems, HMI and legacy software comes from industrial projects we describe under Industry and in the cases. Anyone who needs a reference list from the energy sector should know that before we talk.
- We implement in WinCC, a distributed control system or our own web interface. Does that fit?
- Yes. We deliver the operating concept, operator displays and documented specifications; implementation stays with control engineering or development. We speak the language of both sides and agree early on what the platform can do, so that no concept emerges that cannot be configured.
- Are you certified to ISA-101 or EEMUA 191?
- There is no certification of service providers for these standards and guidelines, and we do not advertise one. We are informed by ANSI/ISA-101, ANSI/ISA-18.2, EEMUA 191 in its fourth edition and VDI/VDE 3699 as a benchmark for good practice, and we make visible in the documentation where we follow them and where we deviate for a reason.
- Do you come on site to the control room?
- Yes. Observation always takes place on site, in the control room, the plant or the engineering office. Concept, prototype and alignment run remotely or in Munich, depending on what the project team needs. Safety briefings and the plant's access rules are part of the plan from the start.
- Our engineering tool is avoided, everyone calculates in Excel. Where do you start?
- With the spreadsheets. Whoever reads them understands which task the tool does not fulfil and which variant it does not cover. From that comes a domain concept that brings the workarounds into the system instead of banning them. The founder built exactly this path himself in turbine manufacturing, in the tools the team already used.
- How does the introduction work across several sites?
- With key users per site, a shared operating concept and deliberately permitted local variants where operating modes really differ. We accompany training and go-live and collect what gets in the way in operation after the start. More on this under Introduction support.
Let's talk about your plant.
Tell us where people improvise today in the control room or in engineering. We will look at where UX brings the most.