Expert Insights: Tacton Rugged Panel PCs and Industrial Displays with David Zhu-Grant

In this edition of Expert Insights we sat down with David Zhu-Grant, MBA , Product Management Lead at OnLogic, to talk about the Tacton Series of panel PCs.

David, let's get right into it. Tell us a bit about your role at OnLogic and how Tacton fits in?

I'm the Product Management Lead at OnLogic which means I lead the team responsible for identifying, vetting and positioning the products that help our customers overcome their computing challenges. I also oversee new product launches in our Rugged and Panel PC lines. I've been helping deploy technology solutions in harsh environments for the last 20 years or so.

The Tacton line of panel PCs has been a lot of fun to work on with the team. OnLogic has been providing panel PC solutions to our industrial computing customers for years. With Tacton we wanted to take the feedback we've received from users and develop a touchscreen computer specifically for their needs. That meant looking at countless screen options, I/O configurations, expansion capabilities and even installation methodologies to mix and match the technologies that were going to be the ideal fit, both literally and figuratively, for the majority of our users. It's been a labor of love.

Can you talk a bit about what went into the development of Tacton? Why did we build it?

Access to, and visibility of, edge data is something we talk to so many customers about. The rise of AI has made balancing workloads throughout a facility even more challenging, so making sure systems are connected and communicating effectively is vital. But all that data is useless if you can't see it and interact with it.

From the start we knew we wanted to create an all-in-one data visualization and touchscreen control solution specifically for the industrial market, and even more specifically for the type of harsh conditions that are more and more frequently found at the edge of the network, where we expect Tacton to be deployed. Key concerns there are temperature range, compute and connectivity flexibility, screen quality and visibility, and ease of installation.

We had a few specific use cases in mind, including manufacturing and automation. Manufacturers use panel PCs all over their facilities to interact with tooling, sensors, robots, and machinery. Those facilities come with a wide range of environmental, logistical, and technology infrastructure challenges that any computing solution has to account for.

Balancing performance, connectivity, and cost is such an important equation to solve for industrial hardware users, and we truly relish the opportunity to help customers on their digital transformation and optimization journey. We rolled all of that into the development of Tacton and the result is a robust panel PC that's ideal for data visibility and HMI.

What makes the Tacton Series special?

With Tacton we wanted to give users the flexibility and configuration options they need to outfit their facility, while ensuring the system was reliable, secure, and easy to install.

On the customization side, in addition to being able to choose from a range of 12th Gen Intel processors, as well as memory and storage options, we also integrated our ModBay? expansion technology, which allows users to choose from a selection of additional connectivity options, including more LAN, COM, or USB.

The displays themselves are also really outstanding, and come in 18 different versions depending on the use case. Users can choose a resistive or projected capacitive display, regular or high brightness, and from 3 different sizes ranging from 12 to 21.5 inches. There's an onboard proximity sensor that can turn the screen on when approached, and an optional front-facing camera. The front bezels are rated for ingress protection of either IP66 or IP69K depending on the screen configuration, and the capacitive screens are optically bonded for enhanced clarity. They're also built to stand up to impact forces since we know panel PCs are often in the line of fire in terms of getting bumped into or knocked around by other equipment on a production line, for instance.

In terms of reliability and system longevity, the specs and regulatory certifications really speak for themselves, but the system is able to operate in extreme temperatures, has wide-power input, and was tested to withstand vibration and shock. We even went as far as creating our own patented panel mounting clips for Tacton. We'd heard from customers that some panel mounting clips would vibrate loose over time, and even fall off in some installation environments that are subject to frequent vibration. Tacton's mounting clips screw on easily and have a locking ring that holds the knob in place once installed. It's that level of attention to detail that we think users will really be able to feel with Tacton.

Where and how do you expect Tacton to be most commonly used?

There are so many use cases that can benefit from an all-in-one solution. Tacton’s IP66 or IP69K rating, depending on the specific screen, is perfect for food production and processing plants that require full wash downs of their screens and tools. For manufacturers, thanks to its highly configurable design, Tacton can be easily integrated into larger solutions, such as OEM products, or used on a manufacturing floor as a stand alone solution for machine interface, job instructions, or tooling status. The system's IP rating, available high brightness displays, resistance to shock and vibration and automotive ignition sensing all make it a great solution for outdoor or in-vehicle installations.

Ultimately, anywhere users need to access, interact with, or react to data, Tacton is built to thrive there.

What's the thing you're most excited for people to experience with Tacton?

Outside of all the great features, I'm excited for users to see and feel the intentional design of Tacton. We spent a lot of time talking to users of panel PCs to understand what existing systems do well, and where the gaps in usability have been. The key elements that came up over and over again were ease of installation, the quality and clarity of the displays and the overall robustness of the system. We were able to address all of these concerns during the design and development phase. We took the added step of running extensive testing and seeking industry-specific certifications. In many cases we test to levels well above the minimum, just to give users that extra assurance.

What does the future of automation look like, and how do you think Tacton plays into it?

Looking out a few years I believe we will see AI more ingrained in industries that may not have previously even considered it. Some of this will be out of pure necessity in order to remain competitive, and some of it will be to optimize and improve performance when considering key challenges, such as labor shortages and new processes with legacy systems or equipment.

I think a specific trend we will continue to see is more compute moving to the edge. More on-premise compute will be implemented as the cost of the enterprise cloud at scale becomes prohibitive. The edge can really help by enabling intelligent insights, analysis, and decision making to happen right where the data is being generated, rather than needing to send, store and process it in the enterprise cloud, all of which adds to the total cost of ownership of these industrial systems.?

Here at OnLogic we have very close alignment with our partners, like Intel?, and are very much leaning into empowering the edge through AI and our reliable hardware solutions. One area we are specifically working on is looking at compute as a spectrum which ranges from on-CPU processing, to dedicated acceleration such as onboard NPUs or external accelerators, through to onboard Integrated GPUs (iGPU) and, of course, discrete GPU (dGPU). These different options for compute all offer different levels of performance, size, power consumption and cost, and from an AI perspective OnLogic is paving the way for customers to right-size their needs, not just sell a highest performance GPU if it’s not needed. In this way we provide reliable, flexible edge AI systems as well as access to a network of partners that help support implementations of all sizes.

Tacton is part of this journey toward right-sizing technology solutions because it gives users the flexibility to mix and match the display and compute characteristics and functionality they need for a given application. Standardizing on Tacton as a Panel PC solution doesn't mean every single Tacton you deploy is the same, they can be tailored to the specific need you have for data access and control. That level of configuration and customization is the future, and we built Tacton with that in mind.

To learn more about Tacton, visit the OnLogic website at www.onlogic.com/store/computers/panel-pc/tacton/.