Gallagher research and development wiped their white boards clean, put on their boots and went on-farm to discuss farmer needs before starting work on the new TW-1 weigh scales.
The TW-1 weigh scale represents a complete re-work of the company’s stock weighing systems, until now served by both the robust W610/810 models and the TSi integrated scale range.
“We were looking for a complete re-design from the ground up,” Gallagher business development manager-EID, Mike Hemsley said.
“We wanted a design that recognised how farmers interact with equipment.
“Touch screens are part of their daily lives now, with smart phones and tablets with simple user interfaces, and we wanted to deliver a new generation of scales that shared that simple interface.
“A key focus for the designers was user experience.
“Often packing multiple features into a specialist piece of equipment like weigh scales requires a complex menu, with options that can be confusing to navigate.
“Weigh scale devices are typically used infrequently by farmers, so it is easy to forget how to use them, which is frustrating and time consuming. Connecting additional devices like drafting systems and load bars is another challenge farmers face.
“Extracting information from scales and linking it to other systems also proved clumsy so was often put into the ‘too hard’ basket.
“Many farmers told us they only use 20 percent of the functionality in equipment and devices, because of complexity, so we spent considerable time developing a very friendly user interface.
“Repeated trips out to farmers to test and re-retest improvements in the interface proved invaluable.
“The resulting TW-1 screen interface is extremely intuitive, from initial scale setup to final weigh data download.
“It is designed to be robust and tough in harsh operating environments, repelling water and capable of taking the typical on-farm knocks,” he said.
The Gallagher team has taken cues from smart phone operation, ensuring every step of the TW-1’s operation is easily understood with help options embedded throughout.
- Visit: am.gallagher.com/au.
