2018 Control Process Automation Hall of Fame - Part 2: Herman Storey
Paul Studebaker, Editor Emeritus,Ā Control. Reitred from full-time employment in January 2020, Studebaker earned a master's degree in metallurgical engineering and gathered 12 years experience in manufacturing before becoming an award-winning writer and editor for publications including Control and Plant Services.Ā
Our second 2018 inductee invested his entire career in two companies: Shell Oil, and his own Herman Storey Consulting LLC. While he stayed with the same two employers, Storeyās outreach and influence through user groups and standards committees touched many process automation professionals around the world.
But it wasnāt his intention. āMy career has been almost a linear path, but not due to planning or design,ā Storey says. āI tried many different things in school, but they just werenāt the right fit. I found the right fit at my first job out of school, at Shell.ā
Storey always knew he wanted to be an engineer. āMy dad was an EE, and from the time I was a little kid, I was building radio kits,ā he says. When he was growing up in the 1950s, āElectrical systems were primitive. I was good at math and science, and I dabbled in TV and radio repair, but there no money in it. I learned the money was in design, not repair.
āI tried a summer job in electric power in the oil patch, rewinding motors and so on, but I didnāt like it much. I liked the electronics side, but not pure electronics like they were doing at Texas Instruments, Collins Radio and the computer companies. I liked the oil company. There was more variety, and I could do a lot of things.ā
Storey graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BSEE from Louisiana Polytechnic University in Ruston, and was offered a fellowship at LSU to work on solid-state semiconductors. āI decided it was too narrow, and declined it,ā he says. āShell hired me for the automation business, but I didnāt know the automation business when I started.ā
Automation had many MEs because the instrumentation was mechanicalāpneumaticābut they were starting to use more electrical controls. āI had some control theory courses in college, on servos and stability, but I had to learn control on the job,ā Storey says. āBasically, I turned 21, went to work, and started learning things.ā
Storeyās first decade at Shell involved a variety of assignments. āI decided I didnāt want to be a manager, which slowed me down some, but it all evened out,ā he says. āI moved into project work, which involved standards, and I found I enjoyed writing them. Before that, I did not enjoy writing.ā
He then moved into R&D, evaluating new technology, selection and strategy. āI liked this even more than standards, and my interest in strategic direction really kicked me upstairs,ā he says. āI got a great deal of satisfaction out of that. I still enjoy it, and I still enjoy writing standards, after 50 years.ā
But Storey says his most important contribution is not in standards. āItās working with the user groups to help them get geared up, organized and facilitated,ā he says. āWorking with the local ISA section, the Fieldbus Foundation user groupāI did a lot of work with the Triconex user group, which contributed to safety. During my time with the Emerson user group, it really took off, and grew by leaps and bounds.ā
Storey regrets that the user groups āsucked the life out of the big ISA convention,ā he says, āBut the user groups are more effective at meeting end user needs, and thatās why they thrive. They have good programs, provide a good user experience and have good cooperation with the vendors.ā
At Shell, coordination with vendors solved many problems. āWe worked on a lot of issues, and it was very useful and successful,ā Storey says.
Herman Storey enjoys gardening. Here he displays the blossoms of a Chinese Fringe tree this March in his back yard in Kingwood, Texas.Ā
Professional developmentToday, many young people are not going into technology. āThey go into medicine or law, not the physical sciences,ā Storey says. āI think itās a matter of interest and attitude, not aptitude. One of my granddaughters is great at math and science, but sheās just not interested. She wants to teach history.ā
At Shell, āEarly on, I was pushed along by mentors and supervisors. Later, I took charge, figuring out where I fit and could make the best contribution,ā Storey says. āThese days, my career pathāthat guidanceādoesnāt happen as much. We still had formal training classes; now most of that is gone. Getting training has become an interesting exercise.ā
Companies today want people with experience, who can give rapid return. āCompanies have a short-term focus,ā Storey says āThey want to get instant payback when they spend a dollar, with results within the next year. With people, R&D, everything, thereās no long-term view.ā
Standards are more of a long-term attempt to solve problems. Storey is working on the ISA 108/IEC 63082 committee, the intelligent device standard, and says, āI hope that will make a difference. I kind of started the committee by getting people involved. Weāre trying to finish Part 1āConcepts and Terminology, and we may get to press with the IEC version later this year. Just getting enough common understanding is a challenge.
āThereās a lot of stranded diagnostics out thereāa lot of devices saying they need attention, but no one is listening. Iād like to fix that.ā
Itās hard to get budget money to have people on standards committees. āPeople have no travel money, on both the vendor and user sides. A lot have cut way back,ā Storey says. "I get more consultants and retired guys, fewer working guys. Theyāre interested, but itās hard to get their time.ā
Tomorrowās technologies
Storey says several of the futureās most important features rely on improving the speed of field communications. āSecurity and data access rely on speed,ā he says. āToday, if we secure the field communications, they slow to a crawl.ā
User-friendliness also needs speed. āWe need to improve the protocols, and the technology is thereāthe physical layer, IEEE, BACnetāthe potential to go from slow, unfriendly and hard-to-manage to something better. The prototypes are done, the demos work, but weāre not wanting to spend the money to get there.ā
Security and safety require a fast bus, and so do EDDL and templates. āWe need megabauds, not 9,600 baud. Even 32 kB/s fieldbus is too slow. And it needs to be routable over IP. Then we can use decent security chips, boost user-friendliness and do some things,ā Storey says. āSlow, insecure and unfriendlyāhow long do we want to live with that? IEEE is working on it, and sooner or later, it will trickle out. Iāll do my best to push it along.ā
The profession needs āmore agitators and leadersāpeople willing to push,ā Storey says, āAnd more people dealing with strategyāthe fun stuff. People need to figure out how to rise above their current job, think about the future, and make a contribution.
āPrepare yourself, and rise above your current level. There are opportunities, and itās the most interesting thing Iāve been able to do in my career, to be part of the user groups, ISA 108 and its IEC follow-on. It can be very rewarding, financially and intellectuallyāa good place to be.ā

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