The PanelPilot

An interview with Rod Piwowarski, Group Chief Executive, Lascar Electronics

“The PanelPilot concept wasn’t really one of those lightbulb moments in a new product development meeting, but rather an idea that just gradually gathered more and more momentum. In a mature and competitive market like ours, you’re always looking for the next big thing. And while I’d love to claim all the glory at Lascar, the reality is that ideas like PanelPilot are inspired by a combination of things. For us, we knew that use of the traditional panel meter, our bread and butter for 30 years, was on the decline and that the graphics market — particularly touchscreen devices — were the new interface between humans and machines, be it an OEM medical device, a control panel, or even a phone. Let’s face it, when your three-year-old knows his way around your iPhone, then clearly times are changing. Couple the expectation our smartphone world has created with the supply of low-cost graphics displays and ICs, and an idea like PanelPilot begins to take shape.

“But simply identifying the need to update the traditional panel meter and touchscreen was really just the beginning. The other side of our business — datalogging — had taken us into the software market 10 years ago, when we’d started to develop configuration software for our new loggers. It was a bit of a shaky start, and while we knew software was the key to easy programming, we learnt the hard way that overly complex software for a user base that wasn’t all electronic engineers wasn’t a good thing. So we stripped out all the complexity and made sure that if you knew how to use a computer and were familiar with Windows, then you could program our logger. And that’s the same thought process that went into PanelPilot.

“Yes, we want color graphics and touchscreen functionality and the ability for users to program and customize that device. But we don’t want users to have to sweat for months over complex graphics communication language or to have to meet some high minimum order quantity imposed by display manufacturers used to dealing with mobile phone manufacturers. And that was really it. An easy Windows based software platform that enabled users to communicate with a contemporary panel meter that matched the expectations of a 21st century market. What’s exciting is really where we can take this product. Downloadable apps for an improved panel meter are really just the beginning. The technology to create amazing user interfaces is here; perhaps the only thing limit is our imagination.”

Richard Comerford