My ISA Story: Low-Cost Automation, High Impact

Summary

I didn’t start my automation career with big budgets or shiny platforms. I started with a stubborn machine, a relay panel and a $350 PLC + HMI combo. That small win—making a struggling OEM evaporator safer, more reliable and easier for operators—set my compass early: good automation doesn’t have to be expensive to be excellent.



Today, I’m an ISA Senior Member and CAP‑certified automation engineer with more than 15 years across Oil & Gas (LNG), OEM equipment, biotech and pharma, supporting projects for National Grid, SI Group, Eastman Chemical, ENCON Evaporators and teams at Bristol Myers Squibb (now Lotte Biologics at that site), Lonza and Moderna.

If there’s a single throughline in my work, it’s discipline. When a plant is on the line, I lean on standards before I write a line of code. ISA‑5.1 gives me clarity on P&IDs. ISA‑18 anchors my alarm philosophy. ISA‑106 shapes procedural automation so startups and shutdowns are predictable. And ISA/IEC 62443 keeps cybersecurity in view as we connect more systems. Those standards turn good judgment into repeatable practice.

Beyond controls programming, a core part of my work is instrumentation engineering and procurement. I build ISA‑standard instrument specification forms (datasheets), run technical bid evaluations (TBE) and select instruments to match real process conditions and metallurgy while balancing performance, safety and maintainability. That standards‑first approach is also why I’m comfortable across platforms—Allen‑Bradley/FactoryTalk (Rockwell), Emerson DeltaV, AutomationDirect, Foxboro and Siemens. When the control narrative and alarm philosophy are sound, the platform is simply the tool.

At ENCON Evaporators, I led a controls re‑platform that traded complexity for reliability: clean ladder logic, modular options, black‑box data logging and smart interlocks for foaming and over‑temperature. We added secure remote access so service issues could be diagnosed in hours, not days. The outcome was simple and measurable—fewer service trips, safer operation and happier customers. I also captured the machine’s tribal knowledge in a formal control narrative, so what used to live in people’s heads lived in one definitive document.

On a forced‑circulation evaporator, I implemented a real‑world density‑based concentration control strategy. It looks straightforward on screen, but it represents dozens of small engineering decisions tied together—sensor selection, signal handling, interlocks and operator experience. The payoff was tighter targets with better equipment protection. I also used ANSI/ISA‑5.1 to revamp the product line’s P&IDs.

I’ve been the person people call when a legacy asset needs to work like a new one. One of my favorite projects was helping bring a mothballed wood‑burning power plant in New Hampshire back to life after three years offline. That meant instrument sanity checks, loop tuning and pragmatic controls work that respected both the original design intent and the realities of aged equipment. Old plants can be stubborn; sound fundamentals make them dependable again.

Most recently, at National Grid’s Providence LNG facility, I commissioned the liquefaction facility and serve as the point person for maintaining this critical infrastructure in New England. That work includes integrating a complex DeltaV environment, hardening instrumentation to prevent spurious trips, rationalizing alarms and driving the roadmap to virtualization and better lifecycle management. It isn’t glamorous work—more elbow grease than buzzwords—but it’s how you keep critical infrastructure safe, available and predictable.

Impact matters, but so does passing it on. I invest heavily in training young engineers—loop tuning, alarm philosophy, clean interlocks and commissioning tactics that don’t show up in textbooks. Watching those engineers go on to deliver major projects for utilities and manufacturers is the best ROI I know. Mentoring isn’t charity; it’s capacity building for our industry.

ISA has been my proving ground as well as my guide. Earning the ISA Senior Member grade and the Certified Automation Professional (CAP) credential pushed me to demonstrate breadth across the full automation lifecycle—from feasibility and definition to design, development, deployment and operations/maintenance. CAP isn’t easy; it demands real depth across process control, instrumentation, systems integration, industrial networks, and safety and reliability. Volunteering around CAP content has been my way of giving back—helping keep the bar high for the next generation.

The thread through all of this is practical innovation. I prefer clear interlocks over clever code, robust HMIs over flashy ones and architectures that technicians can own on day two. That approach scales because it’s grounded in principles, not personalities. When the stakes are high, I lean on ISA standards and codes—they’ve been my blueprint for doing it right.

_{As the International Society of Automation (ISA) celebrates 80 years of advancing the field of automation, we asked the automation community to share their personal experiences and stories. This story was one of the six we chose for publication on Automation.com. You can view all the submissions here.}