ISA Interchange

Welcome to the official blog of the International Society of Automation (ISA).

This blog covers numerous topics on industrial automation such as operations & management, continuous & batch processing, connectivity, manufacturing & machine control, and Industry 4.0.

The material and information contained on this website is for general information purposes only. ISA blog posts may be authored by ISA staff and guest authors from the automation community. Views and opinions expressed by a guest author are solely their own, and do not necessarily represent those of ISA. Posts made by guest authors have been subject to peer review.

Greg McMillan

Greg McMillan

Greg McMillan has more than 50 years of experience in industrial process automation, with an emphasis on the synergy of dynamic modeling and process control. He retired as a Senior Fellow from Solutia and a senior principal software engineer from Emerson Process Systems and Solutions. He was also an adjunct professor in the Washington University Saint Louis Chemical Engineering department from 2001 to 2004. Greg is the author of numerous ISA books and columns on process control, and he has been the monthly Control Talk columnist for Control magazine since 2002. He is the leader of the monthly ISA “Ask the Automation Pros” Q&A posts that began as a series of Mentor Program Q&A posts in 2014. He started and guided the ISA Standards and Practices committee on ISA-TR5.9-2023, PID Algorithms and Performance Technical Report, and he wrote “Annex A - Valve Response and Control Loop Performance, Sources, Consequences, Fixes, and Specifications” in ISA-TR75.25.02-2000 (R2023), Control Valve Response Measurement from Step Inputs. Greg’s achievements include the ISA Kermit Fischer Environmental Award for pH control in 1991, appointment to ISA Fellow in 1991, the Control magazine Engineer of the Year Award for the Process Industry in 1994, induction into the Control magazine Process Automation Hall of Fame in 2001, selection as one of InTech magazine’s 50 Most Influential Innovators in 2003, several ISA Raymond D. Molloy awards for bestselling books of the year, the ISA Life Achievement Award in 2010, the ISA Mentoring Excellence award in 2020, and the ISA Standards Achievement Award in 2023. He has a BS in engineering physics from Kansas University and an MS in control theory from Missouri University of Science and Technology, both with emphasis on industrial processes.

Books:

Advances in Reactor Measurement and Control
Good Tuning: A Pocket Guide, Fourth Edition
New Directions in Bioprocess Modeling and Control: Maximizing Process Analytical Technology Benefits, Second Edition
Essentials of Modern Measurements and Final Elements in the Process Industry: A Guide to Design, Configuration, Installation, and Maintenance
101 Tips for a Successful Automation Career
Advanced pH Measurement and Control: Digital Twin Synergy and Advances in Technology, Fourth Edition
The Funnier Side of Retirement for Engineers and People of the Technical Persuasion
The Life and Times of an Automation Professional - An Illustrated Guide
Advanced Temperature Measurement and Control, Second Edition
Models Unleashed: Virtual Plant and Model Predictive Control Applications

Recent Posts:

Why You Should Look for Opportunities to Improve Plant Profitability

The following tip is from the ISA book by Greg McMillan and Hunter Vegas titled 101 Tips for a Succe...
Greg McMillan Oct 19, 2012 2:01:46 PM

Pitfalls of Selecting Low-Cost Industrial Instrumentation

The following tip is from the ISA book by Greg McMillan and Hunter Vegas titled 101 Tips for a Succe...
Greg McMillan Oct 12, 2012 10:00:42 AM

Why You Should Use an Enhanced PID for At-Line and Off-Line Analyzers

The following tip is from the ISA book by Greg McMillan and Hunter Vegas titled 101 Tips for a Succe...
Greg McMillan Sep 28, 2012 10:00:58 AM

The Cost of a Continuous Waste Stream in Process Automation

The following tip is from the ISA book by Greg McMillan and Hunter Vegas titled 101 Tips for a Succe...
Greg McMillan Sep 14, 2012 7:59:31 PM

Automation Industry Career Tip: Be a Team Player

The following tip is from the ISA book by Greg McMillan and Hunter Vegas titled 101 Tips for a Succe...
Greg McMillan Sep 7, 2012 5:13:46 PM

ISA Mentor Program: The Key to the Future

This post was written by Greg McMillan, industry consultant, author of numerous process control book...
Greg McMillan Sep 6, 2012 6:26:31 PM

Automation Industry Career Tip: Learn New Skills and Explore Technological Advances

The following tip is from the ISA book by Greg McMillan and Hunter Vegas titled 101 Tips for a Succe...
Greg McMillan Aug 24, 2012 3:14:25 AM

Why Control Panels Can Be a Source of Risk in Retrofit Projects

The following tip is from the ISA book by Greg McMillan and Hunter Vegas titled 101 Tips for a Succe...
Greg McMillan Aug 17, 2012 8:07:43 PM

How to Use Control Loops to Eliminate Manual Actions and Sequences in Process Control

The following tip is from the ISA book by Greg McMillan and Hunter Vegas titled 101 Tips for a Succe...
Greg McMillan Aug 10, 2012 9:14:22 PM

The Importance of I/O Cards When Performing a DCS Retrofit

The following tip is from the ISA book by Greg McMillan and Hunter Vegas titled 101 Tips for a Succe...
Greg McMillan Aug 3, 2012 6:06:35 PM

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