The UNITED GRINDING Group is one of the world's leading manufacturers of precision machines for grinding, eroding, laser, measuring, and combination machining. Its new C.O.R.E. technology sets new milestones in the operation of machine tools. This was confirmed by the jury of the UX Design Awards 2022, which honoured the innovative machine interaction concept for its outstanding user and customer experience.

Awarded “Special Mention”
The UX Design Awards is the global competition for outstanding user experiences, awarded by the International Design Center Berlin (IDZ). In the “Product” category, C.O.R.E. earned a “Special Mention," used by the jury to highlight noteworthy individual qualities of nominated projects. In his assessment, jury member Tapani Jokinen emphasized the appealing design as well as the simple and intuitive operation: "The functionality of C.O.R.E. perfectly matches its physical form, and the product is a clear UX improvement for future generations of machine operators. The multi-touch interface is easy to learn and can be used similarly to a touchscreen or tablet. The design is timeless, the physical buttons are reduced to a minimum, and all aspects of operation are focused on the dashboard screen."

Tapani Jokinen is a Design Consultant, Strategic & Ecodesign contractor at Fraunhofer IZM and owner of TJ-Design, a creative consultancy that fuses strategic innovation and design with sustainability and ethical business behavior to drive a positive impact at a global level. He has been a jury member for the UX Design Awards since April 2021.

Added value in user experience
The award is a strong confirmation of the course chosen by Christoph Pluss, CTO of the UNITED GRINDING Group, and his team. During the development of C.O.R.E., one clear goal was creating an intuitive and future-oriented operating concept. "It was important to us that the new operating approach appeals to all generations of users. We have therefore orientated ourselves toward the operating concepts that are now widely used in consumer electronics today and which practically everyone is familiar with from everyday life. That’s why we opted for a 24-inch multi-touch screen on the new C.O.R.E. panel that can be operated via “touch” and “swipe” like a smartphone. We have largely dispensed with buttons. The interface resembles the app overview on a smartphone, with self-explanatory icons that can be individually adapted."

The focus during development was not only on design and ease of use, but also on new technical features that make it easier for users to work on the machines. “These include, for example, the built-in front camera, which allows video calls with our Customer Care team directly on the panel, and the chat function,” says Pluss. "But also easy RFID chip-based access to stored role profiles. Or the option of using UNITED GRINDING Digital Solutions products, such as Remote Service, Service Monitor or Production Monitor, directly on the panel."

With enthusiasm into the future
C.O.R.E is only at the beginning when it comes to the technical possibilities that result from the fundamentally redeveloped hardware and software architecture. “The award shows us that we are on the right track—and we will pursue it with consistency and tenacity,” promises Pluss. “Because a product can only demonstrate its technical superiority and generate added value for the customer if the user experience is good.”

Developments will continue not only in the area of user experience but also in C.O.R.E.'s second major development goal of driving and actively shaping the digital future. C.O.R.E. already facilitates data exchange between people, machines, and the production environment and establishes the basis for the operation of modern IoT applications. We look forward eagerly to further innovations in this area as well.