USER INTERFACES: THE TECHNOLOGY IS READY.

Hardware and software are available to implement plantwide user interface systems that integrate functions ranging from sensing and actuation to real-time decision support and operations management. The technology offers the potential for standardization - facilitating maintenance as well as use - even though subsystems are obtained from different vendors, used by individuals with different responsibilities and experience, and employed for different functions. It is argued that future development will go beyond systems that merely emulate the user interfaces of the analog electronic and pneumatic past.