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Design

Karl Mayer receives IF Design Award 2016 for KAMCOS 2 user interface system

The operating concept can be used via a modular arrangement and a uniform interface for the various types of machines.

4th February 2016

Knitting Industry
 |  Obertshausen

Knitwear, Knitted Outerwear, Knitted Accessories

Karl Mayer, the leading textile machinery manufacturer, has been awarded the IF Design Award 2016 for its KAMCOS 2 user interface system, and consequently the IF label as a symbol of outstanding design.

The user interface was entered in the section of Communication - Apps/Software of the IF Design Award 2016. This technology solution was presented to the market for the first time at the ITMA 2015 international trade fair for textile machinery that took place in Milan last November.

Operating concept

The operating concept, with process-oriented main navigation systems, can be used via a modular arrangement and a uniform interface for the various types of machines.

This applies to every area – from warp knitting, through warp preparation, to the production of technical textiles, the manufacturer reports. For specific configurations, the contents of the production side can be adapted to the requirements of the user roles or machine features. To avoid any operator errors, monitoring algorithms have been integrated, and access is controlled via an RFID data chip with a specifically authorised access key in each case.

Interaction is also facilitated by functional, animation features. Extending the functions to mobile devices complements the project. In this way, KAMCOS 2 enables data to be accessed remotely by mobile devices using the Karl Mayer Connect app.

Next generation of touchscreen

The jury was impressed by the optimised user interface design of KAMCOS 2, which focuses on the user. “Our concept is based on a system of simple, easy-to-understand, practical handling operations. During the development process, we therefore concentrated, on the one hand, on visualising the processes, which were not consequently designed from a technical standpoint but on the basis of the machine’s operating sequences on site,” explained Oliver Krakow, the Senior Manager Electrical Engineering R&D Department.

“The operator is helped by being guided through his daily jobs – from entry of the yarn into the machine to production of the final fabric. On the other hand, we looked at established user practices, i.e. at the types of hand movements and swiping features used on smartphones and tablets.”

Next step

The development of KAMCOS 2 was a high-priority, interdisciplinary project carried out by Karl Mayer. A large team of mechanical engineers, software developers and automation engineers from various business units and locations worked to present to the market the first machines equipped with this new automation platform in time for the ITMA trade fair in November 2015.

These were the high performance tricot machine HKS 2-SE and the new WEFTTRONIC HKS weft-insertion machine.

Following the successful premiere, there are further plans for promoting the technology. “The roll-out of KAMCOS 2 to all our tricot machines will begin on 1 July,” said Oliver Krakow. “We also intend to extend the concept by additional functions that are applicable to our other machine ranges.”

www.karlmayer.com

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