Mimic Panels

A mimic panel is a fixed graphical board, sometimes called a mimic diagram or a panel mimic, that mimics the layout of a plant, a building or a system so an operator can read its condition at a glance. Plant mimic panels, factory mimic panels and building service boards are all the same product built to a different drawing. Process lines, plant items and floor outlines are marked onto a rigid face in the positions they occupy in the real installation, and indicator lamps sit at the points that report status. The board shows what is running and what is in alarm without anyone decoding point numbers. It is also called a mimic board.

Million has manufactured marked panels in Singapore since 1979, and mimic panels are made to order in the same workshop. There is no catalogue size: every panel is set out from your drawing, so the outline, the diagram, the text and the indicator positions are whatever the installation needs, from one replacement board up to a matched set for a new plant. If you are looking for mimic panel manufacturers rather than a definition, the panel is cut, marked and finished here.

Aluminium is the usual substrate, and aluminium mimic panels are they suit most plant rooms and switchrooms. Aluminium stays rigid at large sizes without becoming heavy, will not rust, and machines cleanly for indicator apertures in anodised or mill finish. Acrylic and polycarbonate suit backlit or lighter boards, polycarbonate the tougher. Stainless steel 304 and 316 are specified for wash down areas, coastal and marine sites. Brass is available plain, and powder coated mild steel can be marked.

Screen printing is the usual process for the diagram, because a mimic is mostly flat colour: process lines in one colour, plant blocks in another, repeating identically across a batch. UV flatbed printing suits short runs and multi coloured artwork. On metal, laser engraving, rotary engraving, laser marking and chemical etching cut the diagram into the surface where it has to survive solvent cleaning. Printed panels are produced under our Milscreen brand, engraved and etched panels under Milmark.

Indicator positions are cut or drilled into the panel face to the layout you supply. Million produces the marked face and machines it to accept the indicators; the lamps, the wiring and the connection back to the control system are your panel builder's or control system provider's scope.

A fire alarm mimic panel is the most familiar version. The building is drawn out with an indicator at each detection area, so someone at the panel sees where the alarm is rather than reading a device address. The mimic panel is the illuminated panel itself; the printed chart mounted beside a fire alarm control panel is a zone chart, and the framed plan showing occupants their escape route is an evacuation plan, and each of those has its own page. In a tall building the job is split by storey, and a floor mimic panel covers one floor at a readable scale with the risers cross referenced. Mimic display panel and mimic control panel are the same object named from different sides.

Factory mimic panels work the same way at plant scale. A machine line, a conveyor run, a boiler house or a water treatment train is drawn as one picture with the plant items in their real relative positions, which is what makes factory and machine mimic panels quicker to read than a screen. A mosaic mimic panel is the tile built version of the same idea, assembled from modular tiles; what we produce is marked as a single sheet.

Artwork is set out from your P&ID, single line diagram, floor plan or general arrangement, with the indicator schedule and the legend text alongside it. We accept DWG, AI, PDF, EPS, CDR and PNG, and Million has in house graphic designers who can work a marked up drawing into a panel layout. Existing panels can also be brought in and remarked. Contact us with your drawing, the panel size and the indicator layout for a quotation.

Produced alongside our fire alarm zone charts, which show a fixed zone layout rather than live status, and our control panel markings for the panel the mimic sits on.