The right expert witnesses and consulting experts can make your case. That’s why we have spent so many hours over the past quarter century making sure our clients have just the right expert team — whether one expert or many, early-stage advice or expert reports and testimony. Across over 50,000 expert search assignments, we have honed a unique, customized approach to identifying, analyzing and connecting with expert talent so you can focus on winning your case.
CONTACT US
Process Control Expert Witnesses
Process control disputes arise when the automated systems that govern chemical, refining, pharmaceutical, power, or manufacturing operations fail to keep a process within its intended limits. The consequences can include lost production, off-specification product, equipment damage, environmental releases, and serious incidents, each of which generates claims among owners, operators, engineering contractors, control system vendors, and insurers. Commercial litigation often centers on whether a distributed control system, programmable logic controller, or safety instrumented system was properly specified, configured, and maintained. The difficulty is that control failures leave a complex trail of alarm logs, historian data, and configuration files that the parties read in very different ways.
A process control expert reconstructs how the system actually behaved and evaluates that behavior against the engineering standards that applied. That work often begins with historian trends, alarm and event logs, control narratives, and tuning records, then extends to standards such as ISA-84 and IEC 61511 for safety instrumented systems and ISA-18.2 for alarm management. From that foundation, the expert can determine whether an event resulted from flawed design, inadequate commissioning, operator response, or a vendor's hardware or software defect. Those findings support the allocation of responsibility among contractors, vendors, and owners and provide the technical basis for business interruption and property damage calculations.
Experts who have designed, commissioned, and managed control systems in operating plants are best positioned to explain these failures persuasively. Round Table Group can connect counsel with chemical and control engineers whose experience includes companies such as ExxonMobil, Dow, Honeywell, and Emerson, along with academics who research process dynamics and control and members of the International Society of Automation. That combination of operating experience and theoretical depth matters when an expert must explain controller logic, alarm floods, or safety system design to a fact-finder unfamiliar with plant operations. Having completed more than 75,000 expert searches for litigators, we understand how to pair the right control discipline with the facility and failure at issue. Contact our team to discuss your matter by calling us at (202) 908-4500.
Here are a few of our favorite Process Control Expert Witnesses:
South Carolina Process Control, Fault Diagnosis Expert #21526
I have 12 years of experience in the field of chemical engineering, with specific knowledge of process control, optimization and fault diagnosis. I have published on such topics as power systems (batteries, fuel cells), granulation systems (particulate processes) and metabolic pathway modeling.
Indiana Process Control Expert #24142
I have 30 years of experience and specialize in the field of automation with specific knowledge of project management, process control and life cycle cost. I have published on such topics as validation, project management, and lifecycle cost and benefits.
Georgia Process Control Expert #27797
I have 33 years of experience and specialize in the field of information technology with specific knowledge of process control, process automation and computer integrated manufacturing. I have published on such topics as process control and process automation, optimized resource allocation and statistical process control. I have testified on disaster recovery, process control and process automation.
New York Process Control, Tracking Expert #27986
I have 35 years of experience and specialize in the field of electrical engineering, with specific knowledge of process control, system diagnostics and laser communication. I have published on such topics as computer immunology, system diagnostics and laser communication.
Process Control Expert #39534
I have 30 years of experience and specialize in the field of process control with specific knowledge of feedback systems, performance monitoring, and fault detection and isolation. I have published on such topics as polymer reactor control, process identification, and process and performance monitoring.
Your Case Deserves The Best Process Control Expert Witnesses
New York Process Control Expert #43151
I have 30 years of experience and specialize in the field of high technology with specific knowledge in the areas of computer and communications hardware and software, fiber optics, communication protocols, semiconductors and intellectual property. I have published on such topics as fiber optics, communication protocols, software, hardware, semiconductors, LAN and WAN. I have testified on electronics manufacturing, fiber optic technology and high technology business.
Texas Process Control, Optimization Expert #50748
I have 25 years of experience, and specialize in the field of process control and optimization with specific knowledge in the areas of distillation control, pH control and process operations. I have published on such topics as process control textbook, control chapters in industrial engineering handbooks and over 50 technical papers on process control and optimization. I have directed an industrial process control and optimization consortium for over 15 years.
Put Our Process Control Expert Network to Work for You
Our huge network of experts – eminent university professors and practitioners who have achieved renown as thought leaders in their fields – combined with unparalleled research capabilities puts the experts you need at your disposal when and where you need them.
If you’re a litigator or general counsel, we want to put this network to work for you and your clients. Let us know how we can help by calling us at (202) 908-4500 or filling out the form on this page. We’re so confident you’ll love what we do that unless you retain an expert we present there’s no charge!
Questions Attorneys Ask About Process Control Expert Witnesses:
A process control expert is warranted when a production loss, incident, or performance shortfall may trace to the design, configuration, or operation of automated control or safety systems. Typical matters include EPC and system integrator disputes, vendor warranty claims, business interruption coverage litigation, and allocation claims following plant incidents.
Experts can analyze control strategies, loop tuning, DCS and PLC configuration, safety instrumented functions, alarm management, management of change, and operator interface design. They can also interpret historian and event data to establish the sequence of an incident and test competing explanations for it.
Counsel should seek an expert whose experience matches the process type and control platform involved, because batch pharmaceutical operations, continuous refining, and power generation present distinct control challenges. Hands-on commissioning and operations experience, command of the applicable ISA and IEC standards, and the ability to work credibly with raw plant data are key indicators.
By reconstructing the event from system data and comparing design and practice to recognized standards, the expert can identify which party's decisions caused or contributed to the failure. That analysis supports apportionment among owners, contractors, and vendors, grounds the damages period and lost production estimates, and provides a framework for rebutting an opposing expert's root-cause conclusions.
Round Table Group begins by working with counsel to define the case needs, including the facility type, control and safety systems involved, and the nature of the incident or performance failure. Our team then sources and speaks directly with potential candidates, assesses their directly relevant experience, confirms interest and availability, and performs conflict checks. Counsel receives a focused set of qualified options to evaluate rather than a list of names to sort through.
GET STARTED FINDING THE RIGHT EXPERT WITNESS
Spend your time working with your experts, not searching for them! We're here to de-stress the process of having a great expert witness team so that it’s easy to have the right experts every time. We'll conduct a quick but thorough search and deliver a roster of top candidates for you to review. There's no charge for the custom search — you pay only the hourly rate if you retain one of our experts.
Or call 202-908-4500 or email us.