Jerry Chen

Emerson's Jerry Chen joins our continuing podcast series, 5 Questions for an Emerson Expert. As an Operational Certainty Consultant, Jerry works with clients to help build a reliability culture for their maintenance professionals. He works with them to implement the technologies and to establish the work practices required for more reliable and streamlined operations.

In the coming weeks, look for a more in-depth podcast with Jerry on the walk down process to identifying and improving reliability.

We hope you'll enjoy this episode and will consider subscribing to the whole FIRSTHAND: Operational Certainty in Pod series on your iOS or Android mobile device.
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Transcript
Jim: Hi, everyone. This is Jim Cahill, and welcome to another edition of Five Questions for an Emerson Expert podcast series. Today, I'm joined by Jerry Chen. Jerry is a Principal Field Engineer who works with Operational Certainty Consulting organization to help manufacturers instill a sustainable culture of reliability in their operations. Jerry has a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Tennessee and has broad experience working with companies such as Eastman Chemical, Schlumberger, and Emerson. Welcome, Jerry.

Jerry: Thank you. Thank you very much, Jim, for inviting me here.

Jim: You bet. So, we like to try to find out a little bit more about the experts around Emerson. So, what made you decide to pursue a STEM-based career?

Jerry: Well, I've always been drawn to science. In school, teachers have always told me and other people have always told me that engineers are problem solvers. And I'm sure many other people I've heard that. That really drew me to a career as an engineer because I love a good problem and I always like to try to find innovative solutions. And as an engineer, we come up with innovative solutions. We're kind of dreamers. We may not make the most financially feasible or practical solution, but I know we can create something that's innovative. I've always enjoyed a career in STEM.

Jim: Well, that's interesting. I think a lot of people start that way. The natural gift in math and science and the curiosity, and always solving problems. So, given that and getting an engineering degree, what led you to a career in the field of process automation?

Jerry: Well, I mean, I was working for Emerson while I was in college, working in the field, collecting oil samples, collecting vibration data, and I really enjoyed just working out in the field and not really just sitting in an office. I got my hands dirty. I was talking to the engineers, talking to operators, and really understanding a process and understanding how things are made, whether it be candy, whether it be food, whether it be extracting zinc or something. It was always interesting to me. And working with OCC [Operational Certainty Consulting], I was promised that I would be traveling around the world and working with a diverse background of people. You know, working with Emerson, so far, they've made pretty good on that promise. I've worked in China, I've worked in Singapore, I've worked in the Gulf of Mexico, and South Carolina. I love to travel, so Operational Certainty has really helped me get there.

Jim: Yeah, that's one great thing about being part of a global company. And if you're in that area, especially, as you are working closer with our customers and there being able to have opportunities to head all over the world. So, I guess given some of that experience and getting to travel around, can you tell us about a recent challenge that you've been working on to solve?

Jerry: Yeah. So, recently I've been heavily involved with digitalizing the walk-down process which, essentially,