Services
Data visualization, IoT Product Design
Industries
Environmental Tech, Advanced Tech
Date
December 2022 - May 2023
Team
1 Project Manager
1 Product Designer (Me)
1 Scrum Master
8 Full-Stack Developers
+Sensor & Data Specialists
Problem
Food safety and quality suffer due to lack of transparency and efficiency in food monitoring.
The food industry faces challenges with monitoring food parameters. Inadequate transparency and inefficient monitoring during production and storage, lead to food quality and safety issues, increased waste, and decreased profitability.
Transparency
The food industry lacks transparency in disclosing production and storage conditions, creating uncertainties for consumers and industry stakeholders about the origins and handling of food products, affecting safety and trust.
Efficiency
Current monitoring methods are inefficient, contributing to food safety and quality concerns, increased wastage, and reduced profits.
Studies indicate that food fraud and quality issues cost the industry up to $15 billion of dollars annually.
solution
Sensor technology enables automated monitoring and timely alerts by collecting real-time data for visualization and analysis.
Through sensor technology, the system collects real-time data on monitored parameters, providing a comprehensive dashboard and cloud-based platform for analysis, process optimization, and traceability.
Subscribed stakeholders and governing bodies access a user-friendly system that empowers them to make informed decisions regarding food safety and quality.
Key Features
Automated Monitoring
The system eliminates the need for manual monitoring, freeing up production workers for more critical tasks.
Prompt Alerts
Clear and timely alerts enable swift action, preventing food safety issues and reducing waste.
Traceability
Our platform ensures a detailed record of the product's journey, providing valuable information on its history and origin.
Process Insights
The system's data facilitates the identification of areas for improvement.
impact
The system delivers enhanced product quality, reduced waste, improved process efficiency, and compliance with regulatory standards.
The exact impact of Qualiment on the industry will be measured in the following quarters. However, we have already noticed growing satisfaction within partnering businesses and regulatory bodies.
on Operational Staff
Production line workers and managers benefit from increased efficiency, reduced manual work, and streamlined processes.
A centralized dashboard allows easy navigation of the production floor, providing access to parameter details, incident reports, alerts, and actions to address issues.
on Food Industry Businesses
Enhanced production efficiency, improved storage, and optimized transport conditions result in increased gains for the business. Automatic data recording enables continuous analysis and ongoing strategic optimization.
on Society and End Consumers
Through optimized food journey processes and minimized waste of water, food, and energy, the end product gains enhanced trustworthiness, contributing to a more sustainable food chain.
backstory
Why are we doing it?
Qualiment is part EU 5 years program, a holistic approach to enhancing food quality and safety.
Parallel projects focus on food safety risks, hazards, drivers, biological and chemical substances structure, and environmental impact.
During the 5 years timeline all the teams keep each other up to date, share their work and feedback.
We believe that Qualiment will enable businesses to attain sustainability and transparency, fostering faster and more efficient growth for the benefit of society and every consumer.
team
Cross-functional Experts team
With the support of EU specialists in food quality topics we took the approach to address food industry gaps.
Our IoT team
1 Project Manager
1 Product Designer (Me)
1 Scrum Master
8 Full-Stack Developers
+Sensor & Data Specialists
We want to give a special thank you to: the University of Prague - Data Center, University of Rome - Big Data, Sensor Lab, European Food Quality Authority, Quality Food Institute, Ecocert, Organisation of Consumers and Users, Yally Inc., DED Ltd.
timeline
MVP in 6 months
Knowing that we would launch the MVP in May 2023 we defined the necessary stages of the process and estimated the time needed to accomplish them.
The process wasn’t linear as sometimes during designing or developing we needed more research or definition.
research
Exploring Food Industry Challenges and Identifying Gaps
Research was an important and ongoing process during the Qualiment project. To come up with a satisfying solution I had to understand the problem, the current situation and the constraints.
Quantitative methods helped me identify gaps within the industry and qualitative methods allowed me shape the solution so it suited the needs of users.
Research goal
to understand the common patterns in the industry and identify gaps in ensuring food quality.
Methods
Desk research
First I needed to understand what is the scale of the problem - why is it important to improve food industry processes?
➔
Studies indicate that approximately 600 million people fall ill and 420,000 die each year due to food safety matters.
➔
In addition, food fraud and quality issues cost the industry up to $15 billion of dollars annually.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/food-safety
Field interview
Food quality specialists from the University of Prague explained to me the origin of the issue - why was the problem occurring?
➔
Limited visibility into the entire supply chain, making it challenging to identify sources of contamination or fraud
➔
Insufficient technology infrastructure and data-sharing systems
Observation
I had the valuable opportunity to observe Operational Staff in the real context - Yally Inc. yogurt production floor. I was curious How were they operating so far?
➔
I discovered that while all the necessary parameters were always measured, there were different display devices to navigate between.
➔
Data was not recorded, so it was impossible to later analyze the data and optimize the process.
➔
In case of a technical incident while monitoring there was lots of repetitive, manual action required.
Surveys
To compare the research results to the rest of the industry, I undertook surveys, the results of which shed light on common issues.
in 62% of cases
Devices monitor the necessary parameters, but don’t store the data nor analyzes it.
in 74% of cases
when an issue occurs, operators manually recalibrates to make adjustments.
in 86% of cases
detailed data about previous stages of the farm-to-fork process is in demand yet not available.
define
Determining high-priority features industry operations transformation
Pain Point
Solution
Time consuming transitioning between devices occasionally causing one to overlook ongoing events
All-in-one, expandable data display for numerous metrics
Unattainable process optimization and tracking due to absence of historical records
Data preservation, examination, incorporation with upcoming functions
Challenging manual proceedures in case of parameter out of range or technical failure.
Automated Error Handling System
After obtaining a deep understanding of the industry gaps and user pain points, we established clear product goals. These objectives enabled us to assess and validate our success in the later stages.
Product goal
Enhance transparency and operational efficiency across the industry by providing real-time monitoring, data-driven insights, and streamlined processes.
design
Navigating the Design Process for an Intuitive and Effective Solution
Scientists, engineers, and production-responsible figures facilitated the list of monitored parameters, measurement units, and examples of their visualization.
Temperature
Humidity
pH Level
Time and Duration
Contaminant Levels
Oxygen Levels
Weight or Mass
Air Quality
Vibration and Impact
After visiting the production facility at Yally and interviewing Operational staff and Management we outlined user stories, the first step to a tangible design.
Marketing department designed brand identity and provided me with logotype, style and color guideline to maintain consistency across Project units.
With such foundation I was ready to start visual design.
It was a non-linear process of sketching, creating low, mid and high-fi wireframes, and ready to demonstrate mock-ups.
I was the only UX, UI designer in IoT team, however Qualiment has other teams responsible for the website, and platform so all Designers and Project managers we enjoyed a collaborative environment with continuous communication and coordination.
Highlighted Design Decisions
Dark mode
Keeping in mind the conditions in the production floor and use case environments (Transport trucks, warehouses) I decided to design the Dashboards in dark mode - this way it's easier for the Operational staff to spot changes on the screen even when not looking directly at it.
(Platform team decided to keep News and Network in light mode. We designed a smooth transition between the features.)
Customization
Because of a broad range of needs in various types of productions, I designed the dashboard to be customizable so each user can reorganize parameter widgets as preferred.
Status visibility
To ensure users remain in control, I prioritize maintaining status visibility through progress bars, feedback icons, element colors, and a conveniently placed right-hand panel listing alerts and incidents.
Final Result
Monitor Dashboard
Essential parameters are consolidated, with color-coded widgets signaling warnings or dangers, ensuring prompt incident awareness - noticable even if not looking directly at the screen.
The right-hand panel provides continuous updates.
Traceability
Users effortlessly track past journey stages, accessing detailed information on transportation, storage, and processing conditions. Compliance data, reviews, and direct contact with the company enhance trust for fostering new collaborations.
Settings
Customizable options empower users to tailor their platform interaction according to their preferences.
News & Community
Latest news from reliable sources, including certified entities and government authorities. News is conveniently categorized by topic for quick and relevant information retrieval.
The platform offers a space for users to connect, share insights, questions, and feedback within a community of trusted members.
Test, Learn, Iterate
Conducting tests in the context situation provides the most authentic insights.
Production personnel with varying grades and levels of experience interacted with the interface.
Highlighted iterations
Learning
The way users organize their dashbord depends on the role, but also on the process and its stage.
Improvement
Additionally to dashboard customization we added the possibility to save view templates to eliminate the frustration of repeatedly organizing your dashboard.
Learning
The orange branding color applied to certain elements is confused with the warning color.
Improvement
Applying a neutral tone to dashboard elements that are not a warning to remove confusion.
Develop
Bringing development team on board - Figma hand-off
8 front-end, back-end, and sensor databases developers worked with me on data display and the responsive UI.
I delivered them the Figma file with screens, assets and instructions.
They work in the Scrum framework to ensure the best efficiency.
I participated in their daily meetings to answer doubts. Keeping project scalability in mind I continuously documented design information using Figma and Google Docs.
soft Launch
Displaying real data from the sensors for a group of beta users
42
°C
Temperature
40
18:50
19:50
20:50
42
air flow
energy usage
0
50
100
90
kW/h
12:00
15:00
18:00
21:00
Our sensor specialists together with Prague University engineers placed the sensors in Yally production line in the Mixing Tank, Fermentation tank and Core Production Hall; and in Fer-Trans Distribution vehicles.
They connected the sensors to the databases to allow recording, visualization, control parameters range, and set alerts.
2 teams in 2 companies interact with the product and our team analyzes the performance of the first released features. Insights allow our team to shape product strategy and next features for the full launch.
Measure
Metrics Validate Success
Since the launch, we continuously monitor the performance of features and assess their impact in relation to the product's original goals - Efficiency & Transparency improvement.
HIghlighted insights
Team efficiency increased by 18 %
The 4-person production team used the MVP for 2 weeks, resulting in an 18% reduction in the time needed to monitor production line parameters compared to previous methods.
Transparency creates collaborations
A/B tests revealed that 32% of participants are more inclined to start collaborations with entities that offer access to product history, including production and storage conditions.
48 incidents/ week fixed automatically
The most common technical incidents are fixed without interaction of the operational staff. 4 people team saved approx. 13h per week.
next steps
Scalability is the answer
Scaling the solution for Qualiment and expanding it according to the needs of society and businesses is an exciting step.
Improve and Add Features
During the beta phase, make Qualiment better based on user feedback. Fix any issues and add new features to help businesses and regulators.
Invite More Users, Get Insights
Invite more businesses and regulators to try Qualiment. This will give us more feedback and ideas. Use this information to plan for the future.
Free App for Consumers
Consumers can easily scan product QR codes while shopping to get vital information about companies, product details, quality, and sustainability. This initiative aims to increase awareness of Qualiment and draw a broader audience to our platform.
lessons
A clear objective aids in each stage
It was an intense time, complex project, where I had the opportunity to work with great amount of data, a broad range of user needs, specialists in the sensor and data field.
I learned how staying focused on the goal helps to make design decisions and overcome technical constraints.
It's important to:
Estimate realistically
Split complex projects into smaller, manageable tasks, and meet deadlines.
Communicate
Especially in remote environments, it's crucial to schedule informative meetings with the team and the responsible to keep them updated.
Stay focused on the main goal
Define a specific goal. Document all the other findings along the way but address them strategically. Don't try to do it all at one call.
