What works for consumer end devices must work for the industrial market, too: Apps running in a container directly on a PLC or edge device either under Windows or Linux. The app is installed via an app store.

This is easily possible since containers are stand-alone, executable software packages that contain everything needed to run the app. These software packages are always executed in the exact same way regardless of the infrastructure.

In practical terms, this means that in future machine manufacturers will have more options when choosing components for their machines, since these components will be able to work smoothly together thanks to container apps and therefore the decision for a certain PLC will no longer restrict the choice of the HMI software to that offered by the same manufacturer.

Docker is the market-leading technology for such apps. The VisiWin Runtime is already available on Docker Hub, in the FLECS Marketplace and Lenze NUPANO, with further apps for other container formats and app stores currently being prepared at INOSOFT.

HMI projects are developed and designed using the VisiWin IDE, which combines complete openness and a configurable range of functions. Automation specialists don’t have to decide between the two opposite concepts—the seamless integration of Visual Studio and the use of C# and JavaScript on the one hand and a construction kit bursting with parameterizable system functions on the other—they can combine elements of both.

VisiWin allows any structure – so the PLC with VisiWin app can be connected directly to end devices or the communication is done via a central VisiWin server.

The HMI project developed in the IDE is loaded into the app installed on the PLC. Thanks to its responsive design, the HMI project adapts itself to the device it is displayed on.