A Conversation with Jonas Berge, 2024 ISA Fellow

Summary

Jonas Berge, senior director of Applied Technology at Emerson in Singapore, is one of four individuals recognized in 2024 by the International Society of Automation as an ISA Fellow. The esteemed Fellow member grade is one of ISA’s highest honors, recognizing only Senior Members who have made exceptional contributions to the automation profession, in practice or in academia.

Berge collaborated on two patents describing a revolutionary system for accomplishing safety instrumented systems through digital fieldbus technology. He has authored nearly 100 published articles on topics ranging from fieldbus technology to digitalization of manufacturing to situational awareness in plant operations. ISA Fellow (2001), Richard (Dick) Caro calls Berge “one of the foresightful engineers who enabled the digital transformation of our automation industry worldwide. His development, with a team, of the first fieldbus-enabled safety instrumented system for process control made it possible to design and construct a plant in which all communications were digital over fieldbus, eliminating most analog signals, including the safety systems.”

ISA Fellow (2004) David Glanzer said, “Jonas has contributed to the advancement of process automation technology in two critical areas in my experience with him. The first area is in the advancement of using standardized “function blocks” to enable interoperable system solutions to the process industry. The second area is the advancement of oilfield-based safety instrumented systems. He is named as an inventor on US patent 6,999,824 Safety Instrumented Systems in a Fieldbus Architecture.”

In an exclusive interview with InTech magazine, Jonas Berge answered questions about his distinguished career.

InTech: Can you tell us a bit about where and when you started in industrial automation, and where you are now?

Berge: I started in automation by accident. Back in 1989 or so, I went for a job interview at an “instrument” company thinking I’d fix [Fender] Stratocasters and [Yamaha] DX7s. Alas, it was “signal” conditioners. But I loved the job because every day I worked with customers from different industries, seeing all kinds of plants and solving all sorts of problems. The job brought me to Singapore where I stayed.

Now, I am working with Emerson [for] many years, still helping plants from different industries with automation for digital transformation and sustainability.

InTech: How and when did you first get involved with ISA? What work with the organization has been most meaningful to you over the years?

Berge: I think I first encountered ISA at the ISA Show, Exhibition and Conference probably in 1992, maybe earlier. I was impressed by the ISA conference proceedings and books. I wanted to be part of it. A few years later, I met Walt Boyes on the bus at one of the ISA shows. He suggested I write a book on fieldbus, which I did, and ISA published it. This became a huge break in my career. The book [Fieldbuses for Process Control: Engineering, Operation and Maintenance] and the one that followed [Software for Automation: Architecture, Integration, and Security] helped so many. All the thanks I got from automation folks around the world from this has been very rewarding.

InTech: Tell us more about your work on fieldbus safety systems. We notice that your first book came out in 2002. Are you continuing work on this topic? Any more books planned?

Berge: Safety protocols using requestresponse communication already existed but not for modern time-synchronized publishersubscriber (PubSub) communication. The network technology we take for granted today was new then. We developed solutions together with TÜV to prove they are safe. Today, many safety protocols use PubSub and time synchronization.

After my second ISA book on automation software, I instead started helping people through early social media like AList and later LinkedIn. I still contributed to a few books but wrote none of my own.

InTech: Tell us more about digital transformation of automation systems and your book “Software for Automation,” published in 2005. You’ve written the InTech article for us in this February issue, so is it correct to assume this continues to be a focus of yours?

Berge: The software book was about using more software in automation to operate the plant better, and how to build the software ecosystem securely, tapping into data from the DCS [distributed control system] and other systems using OPC to not be tied to a single vendor software platform. This open automation is still often portrayed as a future vision, but some started doing it back then.

Yes. Digital transformation (DX) of work for operational excellence is what I mostly help plants with. In the early days of DX, there was a big focus on digital gadgets and custom software, but it has since become clear that DX is very much mainstream automation like wireless sensors and readymade software, but much more pervasive. You just need to pick the right ones for each use case.

InTech: What advice or insight do you have for young professionals just starting their automation careers?

Berge: Pick a career you love because love is a better matter than duty. To stand out, you must spend so much time mastering your craft you cannot draw a line between work and play. You must love what you do—not every duty or task, but the overall job must be fun and meaningful. Automation is a meaningful career because it is key to producing safe, clean, reliable and abundant food and water; energy; light and power; daily necessities; paper; clothes; medication; building material; and semiconductors for a growing and more affluent population without damaging our environment.

Emerson’s Jim Cahill had this to say about Jonas Berge: “I have tremendous respect for Jonas and his ability to simplify complex topics and make them understandable. He demonstrates these skills in his prolific writings in LinkedIn and industry magazines and in presentations to automation and industry professionals. And, in person, he’s very approachable and welcoming to people with whom he comes in contact."

ISA Fellow (2003) Ian Verhappen said, “Jonas continues to promote the digitalization of the automation sector engaging with industry through consultation, presentations and publications on topics from wireless sensing, integrated asset management using intelligent device diagnostics, and the impact of IIoT on control systems.”

ISA Fellow (2011) and member of the ISA São Paulo Section Augusto Pereira said, Berge is “always willing and available to help his colleagues in understanding this technology, even with his multiple activities. Another point I would like to highlight is his humility. [He is] a brilliant person, a winner, but at different times that we were together in project activities and at ISA congresses, he was there with his humility and always with words of support for other colleagues.”

_{This column originally appeared in the February 2024 issue of InTech digital magazine.}