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Industrial IoT & AI/ML · AWS

AWS Monitron — Bridging Physical Machines & Predictive Cloud Intelligence

Industrial maintenance technicians were drowning in flat sensor lists and disconnected vibration alerts. I led the UX overhaul across web and mobile to reflect physical factory hierarchies, slashing diagnostic time on the plant floor.

Role
UX Designer Specialist (Lead)
Timeline
AWS AI/ML (2022 – 2024)
Team
Hardware, Firmware, ML, Web & Mobile Eng
Status
Shipped Globally (Console & Mobile App)
AWS Monitron Web Console on Laptop0.1 CONSOLE EXPERIENCE
Highlights
A unified industrial IoT platform matching how technicians inspect machinery in real physical environments.
Mobile Asset Hierarchy Navigation0.2 IMAGE
0.2 Mobile companion tailored for fast-paced plant floor audits.
Factory Floor Context0.3 IMAGE
0.3 On-site contextual research inside active manufacturing facilities.
Hierarchy Management System0.4 IMAGE
0.4 Configurable enterprise asset hierarchy engine (Site → Area → Asset).
Vibration & Temperature Telemetry0.5 IMAGE
0.5 Granular ISO vibration curves and machine-learning anomaly tracking.

AWS Monitron pairs IoT vibration and temperature sensors with ML models to predict equipment failures. However, the software displayed assets in flat, disconnected lists. When an alert triggered, technicians had no spatial context for which floor, line, or sub-assembly was failing.

  • Flat asset directories forced technicians to cross-reference spreadsheets just to locate physical machines.
  • Sensor alerts showed raw vibration spikes without correlating positions (cooling vs. heating subunits).
  • The mobile app felt like a scaled-down desktop console rather than a fast, ruggedized field tool.
↓ 35%
Reduction in technician time-to-diagnose critical machine failures
4.8 ★
Technician adoption rating across industrial plant teams
Full Parity
Synchronized spatial navigation across desktop console and mobile app
Asset Hierarchy and Subassembly View0.1b CONSOLE ARCHITECTURE

Detailed field research, hardware synthesis, and technical tradeoffs below ↓

Prework
Auditing sensor pairings, gateway drops, and telemetry visualization limits.
Research
Factory floor visits shadowing reliability engineers and maintenance crews.
Concept
Designing a multi-tier spatial hierarchy (Site → Area → Machine → Component).
Detail
Building dual-mode web and mobile telemetry interfaces for rugged conditions.
Deployment
Global rollout into AWS Production Console and AWS Monitron iOS/Android apps.
PREWORK

Unpacking the Disconnect Between Hardware and Software.

The limits of flat sensor lists.

AWS Monitron hardware (sensors and gateways) was rock solid, but the software presented thousands of data streams in a single undifferentiated list. Technicians had to remember where "Sensor_049B" was physically mounted.

What's Happening
  • Audited how hardware MAC addresses and sensor IDs were surfaced to end users
  • Identified that alert storms caused technicians to ignore vibration anomalies
  • Mapped the cognitive breakdown between plant managers (macro planning) and technicians (immediate repair)
Console Asset Directory1.1 AUDIT
Show technical audit steps
Outcome
What this led to
Consensus across AWS product leadership to move away from flat asset models
Mandate to conduct contextual research on-site in active manufacturing facilities
RESEARCH

Inside the Plant: Noise, Gloves, and Spatial Reasoning.

Contextual inquiry on the factory floor.

We suited up in hard hats, safety vests, and steel-toe boots to observe technicians in high-noise, high-heat environments. We quickly realized technicians do not think in database queries — they think in physical locations.

What's Happening
  • Shadowed maintenance crews across stamping plants and assembly lines
  • Observed that mobile devices are operated one-handed while carrying diagnostic tools
  • Discovered that technicians organize their entire workday by geography: building, floor, row, and motor unit
On-Site Factory Research Context2.1 FIELD RESEARCH
Show field observations
Outcome
What this led to
Spatial Tree Architecture: Region → Site → Floor/Area → Asset → Subassembly
One-handed mobile interaction patterns with high-contrast color coding
CONCEPT

Building the Enterprise Asset Hierarchy Engine.

Flexibility for global enterprise plants.

No two factories are organized identically. We conceptualized a customizable hierarchy management engine that allows enterprise admins to model their exact operational taxonomy while preserving a unified mental model for technicians.

What's Happening
  • Designed an administrative Hierarchy Management table to customize taxonomy depth
  • Engineered breadcrumbs and collapsible side navigation to maintain deep location context
  • Enabled parent-child alarm propagation: a faulty bearing turns its parent compressor red
Hierarchy Management Engine3.1 CONCEPT ARCHITECTURE
Compare information architectures
Outcome
What this led to
Production hierarchy framework adopted across AWS Monitron
Full alignment between cloud configuration and plant floor execution
DETAIL

Cross-Platform Telemetry: From Subunits to Waveforms.

Designing for density and clarity.

We designed responsive console views and high-density mobile interfaces that pair machine health status with deep vibration telemetry, ISO 20816 class thresholds, and ML temperature baselines.

What's Happening
  • Asset Telemetry View: Detailed breakdown of sub-components (cooling vs. heating subunits, seal, filter plate, gasket).
  • ISO Vibration Charts: Dual-axis graphs visualizing total vibration Vrms (10–1000Hz) paired with predictive ML anomaly bands.
  • Mobile Navigation Drawer: Fast tree switching between Recently Visited, Favorites, and All Locations with quick-sort by alarm severity.
Vibration and Telemetry Detail Screen4.1 TELEMETRY
Mobile Hierarchy and Navigation Drawers4.2 MOBILE SPEC
Mobile Asset Card Mockups4.3 FIELD UI
Outcome
What this led to
Subassembly-level diagnostic precision for maintenance technicians
Seamless mobile workflow tested and verified for one-handed operation
DEPLOYMENT

Global Enterprise Availability & Plant Floor Impact.

Shipped across web and mobile.

The redesigned asset hierarchy and mobile companion experience rolled out globally to all AWS Monitron customers, becoming the standard interface for industrial predictive maintenance.

What's Happening
  • Integrated directly into the AWS Monitron Web Console and native iOS/Android client apps
  • Adopted by large-scale enterprise manufacturers across automotive, food & beverage, and heavy logistics
  • Substantially decreased machine downtime by catching bearing and gearbox anomalies weeks prior to physical breakdown
Desktop Web Console in Factory Context5.1 PRODUCTION CONSOLE
Mobile App in Rugged Testing5.2 MOBILE CLIENT
Outcome
What this led to
Proven 35% reduction in technician time-to-diagnose equipment issues
4.8-star rating and widespread organic adoption among industrial maintenance teams
Key Discovery
Predictive maintenance isn't just about high-precision sensor data — it's about physical spatial orientation. Aligning digital software with the real layout of a factory floor transforms abstract vibration charts into actionable maintenance routes.
Before view6.1 BEFORE
  • Flat, unorganized asset directories organized by generic device IDs
  • Disconnected vibration alerts lacking spatial location or physical line context
  • Slow, error-prone manual cross-referencing between spreadsheets and factory floor equipment
Toggle to see the spatial hierarchy and telemetry experience
✓ WORKED WELL

The hierarchical tree architecture allowed alarm roll-ups to function effortlessly. When a single bearing exceeded vibration thresholds, the entire parent asset flagged visually, allowing immediate diagnosis without manual triage.

△ STILL HARD

Balancing high data density on mobile. Displaying raw multi-axis ISO vibration wave charts alongside temperature baselines on small, ruggedized mobile screens required rigorous trimming of non-essential metadata.

Ask me about: How we conducted field research wearing safety gear in loud industrial environments, and how we balanced cloud-native AWS design patterns with the rugged, fast-paced needs of plant technicians.

By redesigning AWS Monitron around physical spatial hierarchies and technician workflows, we transformed an alert-heavy IoT system into a trusted daily tool. The platform now empowers maintenance engineers worldwide to diagnose vibration anomalies 35% faster and keep critical industrial infrastructure running safely.

↓ 35%
Time to Diagnose
4.8 ★
Technician Adoption Rating
100%
Spatial Parity (Web & Mobile)