Introduction to UCDS
Ian Nimmo, Founder and CEO of User Centered Design Services, discusses the history, goals, and main services of UCDS. Ian brings 50 years of experience in the industry to UCDS clients.
Control Room Design
Ian discusses the importance and complexity of control room design. It’s more than simply hiring an architect. He describes some of the considerations that need to be made when designing a control room.
Alarm Management
Why is alarm management is so critical to the control room? Ian explains why major accidents have been attributed to the alarm system. One of the goals at UCDS is to help clients ensure the operator has adequate time to diagnose and respond to alarms.
HMI Design
Ian explores the evolution of HMI starting back from the processing industry when operators used analog instrumentation on control panels, all the way to describing the benefits of modern HMI today.
High Performance HMI
Ian explains what High Performance HMI is and why it’s important. He also discusses the different levels that must be set for the hierarchy of an HMI system.
Control Room Best Practices
Ian describes the benefits to applying standard best practices to every area of the control room. UCDS guides a customer through the entire process. Ian shares actual customer experiences and feedback related to best practice work with UCDS.
Gap Analysis
Gap Analysis allows you to understand the difference between your company’s control room versus best practices today. It is also applied to alarms, HMI, etc. It provides you with a detailed comparison and next steps.
Management of Organizational Change
MOOC is a methodology that looks at changes to staffing, control rooms, systems, and more. One way to address this issue is to look at how your current organization deals with emergency situations.
Staffing Studies
Ian discusses how staffing studies are becoming increasingly important in the industry. They consist of collecting data on the physical amount and complexity of equipment that an operator has to manage. It also looks at interactions and automation.
Abnormal Situation Management
From a production perspective, how do we keep processes within normal operating limits? Abnormal situation management is when a process begins to function outside those limits, and an operator must step in. Today, tools are needed to determine that.
The Impact of Fatigue
Ian explains the impact that fatigue can have in a control room. He describes what it is, and how UCDS can help you avoid it for your operators by integrating fatigue counter measures.
Other Resources
Ian discusses new resources available on the UCDS website. These have been developed from 50 years of global experience in the industry. UCDS will be offering self-assessments and resource books so customers can see where you need to set your attention as a company.