Controls Engineering · Industrial Automation · Data Center Construction
Field-Tested Insights for Controls and Field Service Engineers
John Herold publishes weekly technical depth on PLC/SCADA systems, data center commissioning, and industrial automation — written by a practitioner, for practitioners.
What John Herold Is About
This site is built for the engineers and project stakeholders who live inside the work — the controls engineers wrestling with integrator handoffs, the field service techs commissioning a new data center hall at 2 a.m., the senior energy executives who need a partner they can trust with mission-critical delivery.
John Herold, based in Decatur, brings a practitioner's perspective to every article, field note, and technical deep-dive published here. The focus stays narrow on purpose: industrial automation (PLC, SCADA, DCS), data center controls and commissioning, and the field service practices that make or break a project. No marketing fluff, no gadget hype — just the specifics that matter when you're on the floor, on deadline, and accountable for uptime.
Three Areas That Drive Every Article
The topics this audience keeps coming back to — covered with the depth they actually deserve.
Industrial Automation: PLC, SCADA & DCS
From ladder logic architecture to SCADA historian configuration and DCS migration strategy, the articles here go past the vendor datasheet. Expect project-grounded breakdowns of what actually works in production environments — and what doesn't hold up when the loop count climbs.
Data Center Controls & Commissioning
Mission-critical facilities have zero tolerance for commissioning shortcuts. Coverage here spans BMS and EPMS integration, power and cooling controls coordination, Cx documentation discipline, and the field-level decisions that determine whether a handoff goes smoothly or sideways.
Field Service Engineering: Lessons From the Floor
The field notes and case-driven pieces on this site treat field service work as a discipline worth documenting seriously. Troubleshooting patterns, site safety practices under ISA and NFPA standards, integrator communication, and the hard-won judgment calls that textbooks skip entirely.
Written for Practitioners, Not for Algorithms
The goal here isn't content volume — it's a consistent weekly cadence of technically grounded pieces that a working controls or field service engineer can actually use. If you're troubleshooting a commissioning gap, scoping a SCADA upgrade, or evaluating an automation partner, this is the publication to have in your reading rotation.
Project developers, energy executives, and dealmakers who want an independent technical perspective on controls and automation projects will find the same depth — without the vendor spin.
Get the Weekly Field Notes →Stay Current. Stay Sharp.
Subscribe to the John Herold newsletter and get weekly technical articles, field notes, and commissioning insights delivered directly to your inbox. No noise — just the controls and automation coverage your peers are already reading.
Qualified inquiries from controls engineers, project developers, and technical project stakeholders are welcome.
