Rockwell Automation continues its comprehensive initiative to embed inclusive design principles across its industrial automation solutions, building upon the foundational discussions from the first installment of this series. This ongoing commitment, highlighted on March 4, 2024, underscores a strategic pivot towards ensuring that all products—from robust hardware to intricate software and public-facing communications—are accessible and usable by an increasingly diverse global workforce. The company’s multifaceted approach addresses historical challenges within the industrial sector by integrating human-centered design, modernizing language, and building accessibility directly into its core digital infrastructure. This phase of the initiative delves into specific design solutions, focusing on hardware considerations, the evolution of terminology, and the strategic integration of accessibility within their common design system, with plans for a third part to explore additional activities and solutions.
The imperative for inclusive design in industrial automation has never been more pronounced. As industries worldwide face evolving demographics and a growing recognition of the value of a diverse workforce, the tools and technologies they employ must adapt. Historically, industrial equipment was often designed with a "one-size-fits-all" mentality, frequently overlooking the needs of individuals with varying physical, cognitive, or sensory abilities. This oversight not only limits the potential talent pool but can also lead to inefficiencies, increased error rates, and reduced overall productivity. Embracing inclusive design moves beyond mere compliance; it represents a strategic advantage, fostering innovation and creating more resilient, adaptable operational environments. Studies consistently demonstrate that companies prioritizing diversity and inclusion in their product development outperform their peers, benefiting from broader market reach and enhanced user satisfaction. Rockwell Automation’s proactive stance reflects a deeper understanding of these market dynamics and a commitment to shaping the future of industrial work.
Engineering Hardware for Diverse Human Factors in Rugged Environments
The unique demands of industrial automation hardware, which must operate flawlessly in often unpredictable, rugged, and challenging environments, necessitate a rigorous approach to inclusive design. Alex Mummert, a Senior Industrial Designer at Rockwell Automation, emphasizes that hardware solutions must consistently support the needs of diverse users, including those with disabilities. The goal is for every solution, whether purely hardware, software, or a hybrid, to function "anywhere, anytime, and all the time," a mandate that places significant ergonomic and accessibility requirements on physical products.
Mummert elaborates on several critical design aspects that contribute to this inclusivity, starting with location. Industrial hardware is typically positioned either "on-machine" or "in-cabinet," presenting distinct challenges for information display and user interaction. The standardization of information presentation across varied product use cases is crucial to prevent user confusion, where a seemingly ideal solution in one context could prove disastrous in another. Rockwell Automation maximizes product access by minimizing interface obstructions, optimizing viewing angles (both vertical and horizontal) for legibility, and designing physical products to be as ergonomic as possible. This approach ensures that vital information is discernible regardless of installation orientation or the user’s vantage point.
Ergonomics stands as a cornerstone of inclusive hardware design. Mummert advocates for designing for the "99th percentile," meaning that grip points, pull force, and space affordance are standardized to accommodate the vast majority of the population without major impediments. This principle is not abstract; it’s rigorously tested through low-fidelity ergonomic validations. For instance, studies evaluate the positioning of features like an I/O module’s door-opening mechanism relative to nearby cables (as depicted in Figure 1), ensuring ease of access and operation in constrained spaces. These tests mirror the validation processes typically applied to software, confirming physical designs meet practical user needs.
The physical characteristics of industrial environments—often cramped, poorly lit, and cluttered with cabling—heavily influence hardware design. Mummert explains that products are designed to mitigate these impacts, for example, by adjusting cabling direction to prevent obstruction and maximizing interface legibility. A clear hierarchy for information, whether static labels or dynamic light indicators, is paramount. This thoughtful affordance ensures that critical data is easily perceived, even under suboptimal conditions.
A significant area of focus is indicators and lights. Mummert stresses the importance of users progressively understanding module status through interaction. The most crucial information must be immediately noticeable. To ensure inclusive color affordance, Rockwell Automation developed updated wavelength guidance to assist users with vision impairments in identifying colors more readily. Previously, overlapping color specifications for green and yellow LEDs could lead to confusion; now, distinct blue-green and yellow-green indicators prevent misinterpretation of device statuses. Furthermore, increasing the physical spacing between LEDs enhances legibility in poor visibility, allowing users to clearly distinguish individual indicators (e.g., "the third indicator is flashing") rather than perceiving a cluster as a continuous block of color. Strategic LED placement also accounts for environmental factors, such as nearby cables and modules, maximizing visibility in stressful situations where rapid identification of a product needing attention is critical.
User-interface responsiveness is another vital element. Mummert highlights the need for clear visual or physical feedback confirming task completion. For example, a quarter-turn locking feature on a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) must provide distinct and consistent tactile feedback, ensuring users understand whether the device is successfully locked or unlocked. Crucially, industrial environments often require users to wear protective gear like gloves, which reduce tactile sensation and add bulk. Testing solutions with such gear in simulated environments helps validate designs, preventing ergonomic challenges in real-world use.
Beyond these specifics, Mummert acknowledges additional considerations such as managing over 400,000 individual stock-keeping units (SKUs) that must maintain a consistent "look and feel." Products must align with brand perception, ensuring that robust design translates into intuitive interactions and a strong visual identity. The entire product lifecycle—from unpacking and commissioning to ongoing use, maintenance, and replacement—is factored into the design process, ensuring long-term usability and accessibility. Mummert, alongside Amber, further discusses these hardware design specifications and accessibility efforts on the ROK Talk podcast by Rockwell Automation, providing a public forum for their insights.
Modernizing Language: A Cornerstone of Inclusivity
Beyond physical hardware, the very language used within the technology and automation industries has historically presented barriers to inclusivity. Decades of entrenched, non-inclusive terms have alienated users and employees, prompting a critical need for modernization. The challenge in automation is particularly acute, given the long lifecycles of software and hardware solutions and customer reluctance to disrupt established productivity flows. Rockwell Automation has proactively tackled this by rolling out a comprehensive terminology strategy over the past few years, recognizing that terminology is a fundamental aspect of any user interface and crucial for effective communication with an ever-diversifying user base and global employee population.
Elena Dunne, Senior Manager of Industry Insights and a former terminologist, has spearheaded this significant effort. She outlines the dual-pronged strategy, beginning with an external software and communications strategy. Dunne recounts her involvement with TerminOrgs, a consortium of terminologists from large organizations, where alternatives to non-inclusive terms were already being discussed. Rockwell’s initiative leveraged these discussions, actively engaging with external parties such as standards organizations, partners, and customers who shared similar concerns. To broaden awareness, Rockwell published a blog and a dedicated page on its website (shown in Figure 2), showcasing preferred alternatives for terms spanning cybersecurity, motion control, software programming, and other industry subdomains. This evolving terminology list demonstrates the breadth of the company’s commitment. Furthermore, Rockwell has taken its message on the road, incorporating inclusive terminology into the "Bold Conversations" roundtable talks at its annual Automation Fair® tradeshow for two consecutive years, most recently discussing inclusive design and accessibility in Boston.
Internally, a robust internal software and communications strategy has been critical. Dunne emphasizes the importance of proactive and transparent communication from the outset. The Terminology Review Board employed various tactics to keep employees informed, including regular newsletters, company-wide webinars, updates on the internal website, and fostering communities of practice to encourage engagement and feedback. This comprehensive internal outreach ensures that all employees, from engineers to marketers, are aware of and aligned with the new terminology guidelines.
The effort is supported by cross-functional teams organized into five distinct workstreams: communication, documentation, product review, process integration, and training. This structured approach ensures that the new terminology is not only developed but also effectively disseminated, adopted, and integrated into every aspect of the company’s operations. The aim is to build these practices into the productization pipeline. Dunne notes the involvement of UX and product development representatives in the initiative, highlighting a shift towards proactive measures. With the newly formed Inclusive Design and Accessibility function, led by Amber, the focus is on integrating checks into the development process to prevent inclusive design and accessibility issues from emerging in the first place, rather than retrofitting solutions later.
Weaving Accessibility into the Digital Fabric: The Flourish Design System
The challenge of retroactively updating decades-old industrial software solutions that were not originally designed with accessibility in mind is formidable. Therefore, a key strategy for Rockwell Automation is to ensure that all new releases undergo rigorous implementation and testing of accessibility best practices. This is largely achieved through the company’s internal Flourish Design System, a centralized repository of reusable components, patterns, and guidelines (Figure 3). Jonathon Gulbrandsen, Design System Leader at Rockwell, explains how Flourish is leveraged to drive the adoption of accessible, inclusive practices.
Gulbrandsen highlights the necessity of wise prioritization when embedding accessibility into a design system. The initial focus has been on ensuring a proper contrast ratio within all common components, followed by keyboard accessibility. The latter, in particular, proved to be an "easy sell" to business leaders, as its benefits extend beyond users with impairments to all users. In immersive, integrated design environments (IDEs) common in industrial automation, such as Rockwell’s FactoryTalk® Design Studio, "power users" like system designers and automation engineers often prefer the speed and efficiency of keyboard navigation over mouse interaction. Using a mouse for extended periods imposes physical and cognitive burdens. Leaders quickly recognized the win-win scenario: supporting power users simultaneously benefits those with impairments, enhancing overall productivity and user experience.
To achieve an appropriate contrast ratio, Rockwell Automation adopted a compliance-driven approach, aligning with recognized standards. Gulbrandsen notes that this strategy resonates strongly with leadership and product managers, who must prioritize development efforts. The Design System team first ensured its components met at least AA WCAG 2.1 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards for graphics and UI components, striving for AAA standards for text. This proactive internal compliance before components reach development teams streamlines the process and embeds accessibility from the ground up. Meeting modern web standards like WCAG bolsters customer and user confidence, demonstrating responsiveness to the needs of diverse workforces.
This work is an ongoing commitment. Gulbrandsen confirms that "Every component has an accessibility section within our documentation site that is ready for expansion as we continue to add capabilities that all of our products can use." Furthermore, the team is actively developing a themeable design system, which will allow products to offer various visual presentations, such as dark or high-contrast themes. This capability will significantly broaden accessibility, catering to users with different visual needs and preferences.
Broader Implications and Future Outlook
Rockwell Automation’s multi-pronged strategy—encompassing hardware design, terminology modernization, and software accessibility through its design system—underscores a profound commitment to inclusive design. This is not a static project but an ongoing effort to align the company’s vast industrial automation experiences with the evolving needs of a diverse global user base and employee population. By establishing best practices for hardware, evolving language to be more welcoming, and embedding accessibility into the very fabric of its digital design system, Rockwell is laying robust foundations for sustained progress.
The implications of these initiatives extend beyond enhanced user experience. They foster a more resilient and adaptable industrial ecosystem, capable of accommodating a wider range of talent and skill sets. This commitment also reinforces Rockwell Automation’s position as a leader in responsible innovation, anticipating and addressing the future demands of industry. The journey continues, with future efforts set to address additional critical areas, including the company’s external web presence, localization efforts to ensure global inclusivity, and the adherence to other software standards, which will be further detailed in the forthcoming Part 3 of this series. By maintaining strong momentum on these many fronts, Rockwell Automation is not only improving its products and services but also contributing to a more equitable and efficient future for industrial automation worldwide.