Constant Technologies has named Brandon Scroggs Director of Utilities and Process Control, expanding the company’s expertise in electric generation and process control facilities.
Brandon brings more than a decade of control room experience and a deep understanding of plant operations. He’s supported projects for electric generation and process control facilities, with work spanning technical furniture, console planning, and coordination with AV, architects, and other control room specialists. That combination allows him to evaluate control room decisions through both an operational and technical lens.
In his new role, Brandon will support utility and process control organizations as they plan new facilities and modernize existing control rooms. His utility-specific experience strengthens Constant’s integrated planning process, connecting operator needs and workflows with technology, room layout, and technical furniture.
Planning the Control Room as an Integrated System
Display wall visualization tools, console configurations, room layouts, and operator workflows should function seamlessly in the completed control room. Decisions in one area affect sightlines, viewing angles, and how operators access shared information.
“On one project, I reviewed the client’s plans for a new video wall and sit-stand consoles,” Brandon recalled. “Once I looked at the configuration in the context of the full room, it was clear the local monitors would block a significant portion of the video wall. Raising the consoles would reduce visibility even further.”
Revising the layout addressed the obstructed sightlines and accounted for how operators would use the video wall from both seated and standing positions. Catching this in the design phase allowed the issue to be identified and resolved before equipment was ordered and installed, avoiding costly and time-consuming changes later.
Planning Around Operator Workflows
Within the plant control room, operators monitor conditions, respond to alarms, coordinate activity across the facility, and maintain safe, continuous operations. The tools they use have changed significantly over the course of Brandon’s career, from static map boards and hard-panel controls to software, digital visualization, audio systems, and real-time information
Brandon saw the workforce implications of that shift on a project where experienced operators had spent decades working with a traditional map board. Leadership needed to modernize the room, but replacing those familiar tools with a fully digital system all at once would have needlessly disrupted daily operations.
These were highly capable operators who had refined their workflows over decades. Replacing everything at once would have disrupted those proven workflows and could have prompted some operators nearing retirement to leave sooner than planned.
Instead, the organization took a phased approach. The map board remained in place while the organization added display technology alongside it. Experienced operators kept familiar tools, while newer operators gained exposure to the visualization tools that would play a larger role in the modernized control room.
Two organizations with similar systems may still require very different control rooms. How technology needs to function within the space depends on:
- Staffing levels and shift structure
- Established operator workflows
- Operator experience with existing systems
- Facility-specific operational priorities
Brandon returns to one question throughout the planning process: “How does the room work for your operators?”
Applying Industry Experience Early in Planning
A new control room impacts the organization long after project completion. The finished room also reflects the decisions of the leaders who guided it through planning and execution.
Brandon has seen how closely these projects can become associated with the people responsible for moving them forward.
“A major control room project may only come around once in a decade, and for the leaders responsible for it, the decisions made during that process become part of their legacy. They’re planning a facility that will support the organization and its operators long after the project is complete.”
That makes a broad frame of reference especially useful. Brandon has worked across enough control room projects to recognize patterns: where small decisions created larger problems, how different operator groups responded to change, and which questions deserved attention early in the process.
Utility leaders bring the most important knowledge to the table: a detailed understanding of their operation, their operators, and their priorities. Brandon adds perspective drawn from many control room projects, giving clients useful points of comparison as they evaluate the decisions in front of them.
Utility Control Room Expertise from Constant Technologies
Constant Technologies works with utility and process control organizations to plan, design, integrate, install, and support mission-critical control rooms. Our team brings specialized expertise across control room design, visualization, technical furniture, and technology integration. Brandon’s industry experience strengthens that support for organizations preparing for new construction or modernization.
If your organization is planning a new utility control room or evaluating an upcoming modernization, request a no-cost control room design consultation to discuss your operational requirements.
