Milwaukee, WI – March 4, 2024 – In an era marked by rapid technological advancement and an increasingly diverse global workforce, the imperative for inclusive design in industrial automation has become paramount. Rockwell Automation, a leader in industrial automation and digital transformation, is spearheading a comprehensive initiative to embed inclusive design principles across its hardware, software, and corporate communications. This strategic pivot addresses the complex challenges of ensuring that industrial solutions are not only robust and efficient but also universally accessible to all operators, regardless of physical ability, cognitive style, or linguistic background. This article, the second in a series, delves into Rockwell Automation’s tangible efforts in hardware design, terminology modernization, and the integration of accessibility within its common design system.
The industrial automation landscape, characterized by sophisticated machinery and intricate control systems, presents unique hurdles for inclusive design. Unlike consumer electronics, industrial equipment operates in often rugged, unpredictable, and demanding environments, requiring solutions that perform flawlessly "anywhere, anytime, and all the time." The global manufacturing sector faces a dual challenge: an aging workforce, which brings invaluable experience but may also contend with age-related vision, hearing, or dexterity impairments, and a new generation of workers from diverse backgrounds who expect intuitive and accessible interfaces. These demographic shifts underscore the urgent need for designs that accommodate a broad spectrum of human capabilities. Furthermore, adherence to global accessibility standards and fostering a culture of inclusivity are increasingly recognized as drivers of safety, productivity, and innovation. Companies that proactively integrate inclusive design can mitigate risks, enhance operational efficiency, and secure a competitive advantage in a talent-constrained market.
Designing Resilient Hardware for Diverse Operators
The foundation of any industrial automation system lies in its hardware, which must withstand rigorous use while simultaneously providing accessible interaction points. Rockwell Automation recognizes that hardware solutions must equally support the needs of diverse users, including those with disabilities. Alex Mummert, a Senior Industrial Designer at Rockwell Automation, highlights the meticulous considerations involved in this process, emphasizing human factors in hardware development.
"Physical hardware is placed in a wide variety of locations, primarily broken into on-machine and in-cabinet placement," Mummert explains. This fundamental variability necessitates a standardized approach to information display, ensuring consistency even when product use cases diverge significantly. "Having unique options that could create an ideal solution in one scenario may wreak havoc in another scenario for the same type of product," he notes, underscoring the need for versatile, broadly applicable designs. Maximizing access involves minimizing obstructions from interfaces, optimizing display angles for legibility (considering both vertical and horizontal perspectives), and prioritizing ergonomic design.
Ergonomics stands as a cornerstone of inclusive hardware design. Mummert advocates for designing for the "99th percentile," meaning solutions should accommodate 99% of the population without major impediments. This principle translates into standardizing grip points, pull forces, and space affordances. Such factors are rigorously tested through low-fidelity ergonomic validations, as exemplified by a study on an I/O module’s door-opening feature relative to nearby cables, ensuring that physical interactions are comfortable and efficient for a vast majority of users. This proactive testing approach significantly reduces the potential for user fatigue and error in operational settings, where repetitive tasks and confined spaces are common. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) consistently reports that ergonomic injuries are among the most common workplace injuries, costing billions annually in lost productivity and healthcare, making inclusive ergonomic design a critical safety and financial investment.
Beyond the immediate interaction, the physical characteristics of the industrial environment heavily influence design choices. "These products do not reside in a controlled, studio environment," Mummert emphasizes. "They are confined to what are sometimes cramped, poorly lit, and dirty environments with other pieces of cabling and equipment near or on top of them." Designers must anticipate these variables, implementing modifications such as adjusting cabling directions and maximizing interface legibility. A clear hierarchy for both static and dynamic information, such as light indicators, is crucial in these challenging conditions.
Indicators and lights, often the primary means of conveying module status, receive particular attention. Mummert stresses the importance of clear, unambiguous feedback. "It’s critical that a user increasingly understands the module status the longer they interact with it." To ensure proper, inclusive color affordance, Rockwell Automation has developed updated wavelength guidance, specifically addressing users with vision impairments. Previously, overlapping green and yellow LED color specifications could lead to confusion, especially for individuals with color vision deficiencies. By refining these specifications, and increasing the physical spacing between LEDs, the company ensures that "the third indicator is flashing" is clearly discernible, preventing clustered indicators from merging into a single, continuous color. Strategic LED placement also accounts for surrounding cables and devices, maximizing visibility in stressful situations where rapid identification of product status is critical for troubleshooting and safety.
User-interface responsiveness, particularly tactile feedback, is another vital aspect. Whether it’s turning a locking feature on a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) or operating a button, the feedback must be "distinct and consistent," confirming successful task completion. This becomes even more challenging when operators wear protective gear like gloves, which reduce feeling and add bulk. Rigorous testing with such gear in simulated environments helps validate these solutions, preventing ergonomic headaches in compact designs. This attention to detail contributes directly to reduced human error and improved operational flow, especially in high-stakes industrial contexts where mistakes can be costly.
With over 400,000 individual stock-keeping units (SKUs), maintaining a cohesive brand identity and user experience across a vast product portfolio is a monumental task. Mummert notes that each product has unique demands, requiring flexible solutions that address diverse user needs without compromising brand perception or product functionality. The full product lifecycle—from unpacking and commissioning to using, maintaining, and replacing—is factored into the design process, ensuring long-term usability and accessibility. This holistic approach reflects a deep understanding that inclusive design is not merely an add-on but an intrinsic component of product quality and user satisfaction.
Cultivating an Inclusive Lexicon: Modernizing Terminology
Beyond physical hardware, the language used within industrial automation systems and communications plays a pivotal role in fostering inclusivity. The technology industry, historically, has perpetuated outdated and non-inclusive terms that can alienate users and employees. The automation industry, with its long-standing software and hardware solutions, faces a particular challenge in updating entrenched terminology without disrupting productivity. Rockwell Automation has proactively addressed this through a robust terminology strategy, recognizing that language is a key aspect of any user interface and a critical driver of communication, especially with an ever-diversifying user and employee base.
Elena Dunne, Senior Manager of Industry Insights and a former terminologist, has spearheaded this comprehensive effort. She highlights the dual strategy of external and internal engagement. On the external front, Rockwell Automation actively engaged with "TerminOrgs," a consortium of terminologists from large organizations, to identify and discuss alternatives to non-inclusive terms. This collaborative approach extended to standards organizations, partners, and customers who shared similar concerns, fostering a collective movement towards more inclusive language. To broaden awareness, the company published blog posts and developed a dedicated page on its website showcasing preferred alternatives for terms across various subdomains like cybersecurity and motion control. This evolving list serves as a public commitment and a resource for the wider industry. Furthermore, Rockwell Automation has integrated inclusive terminology into its annual Automation Fair® tradeshow, initiating "Bold Conversations" roundtables on inclusive design and accessibility, signaling its leadership in this domain.
Internally, proactive and transparent communication has been paramount. Dunne outlines several tactics used to keep employees informed: regular email updates, intranet announcements, workshops, and the establishment of a Terminology Review Board. These channels ensure that all employees understand the rationale behind the changes and are equipped to adopt the new lexicon. The initiative is supported by a cross-functional working group comprising five distinct workstreams: awareness, implementation, tools, governance, and productization. This structured approach ensures that inclusive terminology is not merely a policy but is actively integrated into all facets of the company’s operations, from product development to marketing.
"We have several UX and product-development representatives who are engaged in the initiative to help with the changes already identified," Dunne explains. This direct involvement within the productization pipeline is crucial for building checks into the development process, preventing inclusive-design and accessibility issues from arising in the first place. The newly formed Inclusive Design and Accessibility function, led by Amber, further solidifies this proactive stance. By updating terminology, Rockwell Automation not only aligns with global diversity standards but also enhances clarity, reduces ambiguity, and fosters a more welcoming and respectful environment for its global workforce and customer base. The move from terms like "master/slave" to "primary/secondary" or "whitelist/blacklist" to "allowlist/denylist" reflects a conscious effort to eliminate language rooted in discriminatory or exclusionary contexts, promoting a more equitable and understandable communication landscape.
Standardizing Accessibility through a Common Design System
While hardware and terminology address critical aspects of inclusivity, the digital interfaces of industrial automation software demand equally rigorous attention. Retroactively updating decades-old software solutions to be accessible is a formidable challenge. Therefore, Rockwell Automation’s strategy focuses on ensuring that all new software releases and updates rigorously implement and test accessibility best practices from inception. A key component of this strategy is the internal "Flourish Design System," which serves as a centralized repository of design guidelines, components, and patterns.
Jonathon Gulbrandsen, Design System Leader at Rockwell Automation, highlights the strategic priorities in weaving accessibility into Flourish. "Our initial focus has been to ensure a proper contrast ratio within all our common componentry, followed up with keyboard accessibility." These foundational elements are critical for users with visual impairments or those who rely on assistive technologies. Keyboard accessibility, in particular, proved an easy sell to business leaders. Gulbrandsen articulated how it benefits "all users" by considering impairment cases. In industrial automation, many software applications are immersive, integrated design environments (IDEs), such as Rockwell Automation’s FactoryTalk® Design Studio, used by system designers and automation engineers. These "power users" often prefer the speed and efficiency of keyboard navigation over mouse interaction, which can impose a physical and cognitive burden during long workdays. Leaders quickly recognized the win-win scenario: supporting users with impairments simultaneously enhances the productivity of their most demanding users.
To ensure an appropriate contrast ratio, the Design System team prioritized compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 standards. "For contrast ratio, we built into our component-design process a requirement to test and ensure that the ratio meets at least AA WCAG 2.1 standards for graphics and UI components, and we strive for AAA standards for text," Gulbrandsen states. This proactive integration means components are accessible before they even reach development teams, streamlining the process and reducing potential rework. Compliance with modern web standards like WCAG not only builds customer and user confidence but also addresses the needs of increasingly diverse workforces who expect accessible digital tools.
The work is ongoing, with every component within the Flourish Design System featuring an accessibility section ready for expansion. Furthermore, the team is developing a themeable design system, which will allow products to offer various visual presentations, such as dark or high-contrast themes. These options significantly broaden accessibility for users with different visual needs or preferences, including those with light sensitivity or low vision. By embedding accessibility deeply into its design system, Rockwell Automation is not just reacting to current needs but future-proofing its software offerings, ensuring they remain inclusive as technology and user demographics continue to evolve. This commitment positions the company at the forefront of accessible industrial software development, reflecting a deep understanding that user experience is paramount for all.
The Broader Implications for Industry and Workforce
Rockwell Automation’s concerted efforts in inclusive design carry significant implications for the broader industrial automation sector. By establishing best practices in hardware design, modernizing terminology, and integrating accessibility into software development, the company is setting a new benchmark for corporate responsibility and operational excellence.
The direct impact on safety and productivity cannot be overstated. Hardware designed with robust ergonomics and clear indicators reduces the likelihood of operator fatigue, errors, and accidents. A clear, inclusive lexicon minimizes miscommunication, streamlining training and daily operations. Accessible software empowers a wider range of individuals to engage with complex systems, potentially unlocking new talent pools and increasing workforce participation. These initiatives contribute to a more resilient and efficient industrial ecosystem, where human factors are prioritized alongside technological prowess.
Furthermore, a strong commitment to inclusive design enhances competitive advantage. In a global market, companies that demonstrate leadership in accessibility and diversity are more likely to attract top talent, secure partnerships, and earn the trust of customers who are increasingly prioritizing ethical and inclusive business practices. It aligns with growing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) frameworks, positioning Rockwell Automation as a responsible corporate citizen.
Aligning industrial automation experiences with the needs of diverse users and employees is an ongoing journey. Rockwell Automation has established robust foundations to sustain these efforts for years to come. From hardware design principles to an evolving terminology strategy and an accessible design system, the momentum of inclusive design remains strong and multifaceted. The company’s commitment extends to its external web presence, localization efforts, and other software standards, which will be explored in the forthcoming Part 3 of this series, highlighting a continuous, holistic dedication to universal accessibility in the industrial realm.
