FEATURE Machine safety
UX TECHNOLOGY ENHANCES SAFETY
By presenting information clearly and intuitively, representatives from Valmet explain how a well- designed Distributed Control System User Experience (UX) reduces the likelihood of human error, helps prevent accidents, and enhances situational awareness
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n industrial control environments, the User Experience, or UX, when interacting with a Distributed Control System (DCS) impacts how effectively and efficiently operators monitor and control industrial processes. It also plays a critical role in safety. Poor UX can lead to misinterpretation of data, delayed responses, alarm fatigue, and operational mistakes, while good UX contributes to faster decision-making, reduced training time, improved operator confidence, and more stable plant operation. “Today, UX design is no longer a ‘nice to have’ in safety critical process industries. Instead, it plays an important role in how operators control the process, improve situational awareness, and make the right decisions under pressure,” said Anna Sydänmaa, Business Manager at Valmet According to Valmet UX Manager Nina Flink, user experience should not be mistaken for the user interface (part of user experience), which focuses on user interactions, visual and interactive elements such as layout, colours, typography, buttons, and icons. The UX is broader and centres on the overall experience a user has while interacting with a product. In a DCS environment, UX considers physical workplace, collaboration aspects, workstations and used hardware, tools including user interface which includes the clarity of process displays, the intuitiveness of navigation, the consistency of symbols and terminology, the responsiveness of the system, and the way information is prioritised and presented during both normal operation and abnormal situations. A well-designed user experience helps
14 June 2026 | Automation
operators maintain situational awareness by ensuring critical information is available when it matters most. By reducing unnecessary mental effort, it enables faster, more confident decisions and lowers the chance of mistakes. This approach relies on clear visibility into process conditions, alarms that communicate priority and intent without overwhelming the user, and workflows that mirror real operating practices rather than theoretical models. The UX also considers how efficiently operators can carry out everyday tasks such as reviewing trends, acknowledging alarms, adjusting setpoints, and performing diagnostics, along with how rapidly they can understand abnormal conditions and take appropriate action. “Safety in process industries cannot be achieved by focusing on equipment alone,” said Sydänmaa. “True safety depends on how people operate, maintain, and manage processes. It is about ensuring operators have the right information at the right time.” At Valmet, UX design is incorporated into the development of its leading Distributed Control Systems (DCS). As part of a ground- up approach to designing its new web-based DCS, DNAe, the Valmet design team placed a strong emphasis on improving the system’s user experience (UX). The urgency was driven in part by the
growing need for an interface that is easy-to- use and intuitive while requiring less operator training, as processors face a significant wave of workforce retirements. Valmet’s Automation Solutions business area maintains a dedicated UX team consisting
of over ten specialists whose sole focus is user experience. As a result, all configuration workflows, UI workflows, and on-screen components are defined and governed by the UX team, including how each workflow functions and how it is visually presented. Flink says the design is based on understanding how operators, supervisors, managers, and engineers actually do their work, rather than only focusing on Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams. “We start by understanding the bigger
picture: how people want to work, what they need, and what the process demands. After that, we move into the details,” said Flink. The user interface is structured around practical operating scenarios and user requirements rather than being driven solely by the process itself. Visual elements such as colours, shapes, and symbols are used consistently throughout the system, with alarm colours strictly limited to true alarm conditions. Critical information is presented to process automation users according to their roles. Intuitive dashboards and clear views of the
process and its subprocesses enable users to concentrate on what matters most. Information is prioritised so operators can quickly detect even subtle changes and respond without delay, in alignment with their responsibilities and regardless of location. Trends and event information are also available through the same user interface. At its core, a well-designed UX enables operators to achieve situational awareness at a glance, said Flink. Situational awareness describes an
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