Control Amplified

There are engineers who fall into their careers, and there are engineers who seem destined for them. Peter Morgan—newly inducted member of the 2026 Process Automation Hall of Fame is, by his own cheerful admission, somewhere in between. Editor in chief Len Vermillion spoke with Morgan in the next podcast from the 2026 Process Automation Hall of Fame podcast and video series.

In this episode of the Control Amplified podcast, you will hear an informative discussion about industrial relays and their role in automation and manufacturing. Hosted by Len Vermillion, Editor-in-Chief of Control Global/Control Magazine at Endeavor Business Media, the conversation features Patrick Casey, Senior Offer Manager for Control and Signaling at Schneider Electric. Together, they explain what relays do, why solid-state relays are gaining popularity, and how modern relay design is evolving. The episode covers key trade-offs such as heat, cost, lifespan, and speed, while also highlighting newer trends like slim relays, smarter connected relays with NFC programming, and improved wire management. Len and Patrick also compare relays with controllers and contactors, and discuss environmental considerations, such as hazardous-location and hermetically sealed relays for harsh industrial settings. This episode provides a practical look at how relays continue to support reliable, space-saving, and increasingly intelligent industrial control systems.

In this episode of Control Amplified, editor in chief Len Vermillion talks to executive editor Jim Montague about February 2026's ISA Will-DuPage Chapter Tabletop Show and Technical Conference. Jim learned about effective ways to protect instrumentation from freezing temperatures and more at this show on Feb. 26 in Joliet, Illinois.

Control's editor in chief, Len Vermillion, and executive editor, Jim Montague, attended ARC Advisory Group's February Industry Leadership Forum in Orlando, Florida. There, attendees heard industry experts discuss the most pressing issues in the process industries, from artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity to large-language models (LLMs) and system design. For even more information on the conference, visit https://www.arcweb.com/events/arc-industry-leadership-forum-orlando.

The concept of the digital twin is perhaps the centerpiece of digital transformation when it comes to the industrial enterprise. Think about it: What if the same digital model used to optimize the design of an industrial facility or other complex machine lived on in the form of a continuously current simulation that could optimize the real-time performance of the system over its entire lifecycle? According to Christian Salazar, portfolio manager for Honeywell Process Solutions, such is the promise of Honeywell's Digital Prime offering. Control's Keith Larson caught up with Salazar at the company's recent users group meeting in The Hague, Netherlands, to discuss how Digital Prime brings together all of the connected offerings within Honeywell Process Solutions to deliver real-time performance insights to its customers.

SRF is a global producer of chemicals and specialty chemicals with locations not only in India, but also Thailand, South Africa and Hungary. It maintains a long and storied history of growth and innovation dating back more than a century. In this episode of Control Amplified, editor in chief Len Vermillion discusses the 2025 Plant of the Year pick, SRF Dahej.

In this episode of Control Amplified, editor in chief Len Vermillion sits down with Cade Shipek, senior HMI solutions expert for Proface by Schneider Electric, to discuss the state of control and I/O integration.

In today’s world of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and emerging artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, there’s a growing need to share operational technology (OT) data from supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and integrate it with the business information typically found in information technology (IT) systems. Much of this data originates from legacy control hardware performing dedicated functions that aren’t directly compatible with evolving IT environments supporting AI and other initiatives. What are the key considerations for bridging this data divide to enable new applications in a safe, efficient and economical way? Control Amplified spoke with Barry Baker, vice president of Trihedral Engineering, about the benefits of adopting edge-based solutions for existing applications. This episode is sponsored by Trihedral Engineering.

Variable frequency drives, or VFDs, have long offered the opportunity to boost the energy efficiency of rotating equipment such as pumps and fans. But when VFDs are fully integrated into a plant’s control system architecture, new levels of plantwide optimization are possible. Control’s Keith Larson caught up with Chad White, leader of the North America sales organization for Danfoss, and Raj Nara Yanan, product manager for Honeywell Process Solutions, at the recent Honeywell Users Group meeting in San Antonio to discuss how Honeywell’s partnership with Danfoss is unlocking new possibilities.

By their very nature, the metals, minerals and mining industries have often set the standard for jobs that are at once remote, dirty and dangerous, and as such are facing a particularly acute shortage of workers as Baby Boomers retire. But new cutting-edge technologies such as AI are poised to change that outlook, according to Derain Pillay, global vertical lead for the MM&M markets with Honeywell Process Solutions. Control’s Keith Larson caught up with Derain at the company’s recent Honeywell Users Group meeting in San Antonio to discuss how technology is reshaping how work gets done in this essential global industry.

Control’s Keith Larson caught up with Rahul Negi, director of digital and autonomous operations for Honeywell Process Solutions, to discuss AI’s rapidly evolving capabilities: from assisting human-decision makers to manifesting aspects of true autonomy.

Control’s Keith Larson talks with ExxonMobil’s David Patin and Brian Reynolds and Alicia Kempf of Honeywell Process Solutions in this episode of Control Amplified.

SCADA applications are responsible for far more than facilitating real-time process monitoring and alarm management. The process history they compile over time is critical to providing the data-driven insights that industry relies on when optimizing their systems to control costs, maximize uptime and increase the life of infrastructure. Modern SCADA systems must ensure data is safe, relevant and easily shareable with a company’s own team or third-party reporting solutions, business systems and artificial intelligence (AI) platforms. Control Amplified talked to Chris Little, media relations director, Trihedral Engineering, about straightforward principles to ensure that your SCADA data is ready to go to work.