Good Equipment Helps Operators Minimize Distraction

Brief 

Improving construction equipment and technologies that enable productivity is often a focus of manufacturers, but interfaces and heads-up displays that provide operators information for safe and efficient work are often overlooked. Displays that monitor equipment sensors and provide information to operators in an intuitive way without distracting them can make training easier and enhance efficiency and safety.

Insight

With the further electrification of the construction jobsite, comes the technology powering the equipment to work as it should. One technology often overlooked is the heads-up -display (HUD) providing the operator with the information they need to work safely and efficiently.

The most famous HUD you use but often never think about—the mark of a good interface—is the smartphone. Apps are designed to grab as much of your attention as possible and keep you engaged. But when it comes to an information display in construction equipment, it’s almost the exact opposite. There is a critical balance for operators needing vital information and displays designed to inform but not distract.

With the further electrification of the construction jobsite, comes the technology powering the equipment to work as it should. One technology often overlooked is the heads-up -display (HUD) providing the operator with the information they need to work safely and efficiently.

The most famous HUD you use but often never think about—the mark of a good interface—is the smartphone. Apps are designed to grab as much of your attention as possible and keep you engaged. But when it comes to an information display in construction equipment, it’s almost the exact opposite. There is a critical balance for operators needing vital information and displays designed to inform but not distract.

Altia’s software technology can be found in off-highway construction equipment manufacturers like CNH Industrial, Eaton, and Oshkosh, and has been used for the displays in the consumer world for brands like Ford and Harley Davidson. But, early on, their customers were primarily around the automotive industry and consumer appliances like microwaves and ovens.

They take lessons learned from these consumer arenas to apply the tools needed for the subject matter experts from construction equipment manufacturers designing the necessary GUIs.