New group helps industrial and mission-critical organizations plan how operators, procedures and technology will work together, before the room is built
NORCROSS, GA, UNITED STATES, October 7, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Fountainhead Control Rooms (FCR), a designer and builder of control room consoles, technical furniture and integrated AV systems, today announced the launch of the Mission-Critical Performance Group (MCPG). The new group provides human systems engineering for complex control rooms, helping organizations plan how their operators, procedures and technology will perform together, not just how the room will be built. David Lee, CEng, FIChemE, has joined Fountainhead as Principal Consultant and will lead the new group. Lee is an engineer with 40 years of industry experience and roughly 35 years of work in automation standards bodies.
Many of the most expensive control room problems are locked in before construction begins. An alarm philosophy carried over from an old system, decision authority that was never clearly mapped, or operator training that stops the day the room goes live can undercut a well-built facility for years. MCPG was formed to address those issues early, when they are easier and less costly to fix.
“A control room can meet every dimension on the drawing and still let operators down,” said David Lee, Principal Consultant and leader of MCPG. “Alarm floods, cluttered screens, unclear roles and fatigue are what cause trouble on a bad night. Our job is to work through those issues while there is still time to design around them.”
MCPG’s work is grounded in recognized standards and industry guidance, including ISO 11064 for control centre ergonomics, ANSI/ISA-18.2 and IEC 62682 for alarm management, ANSI/ISA-101.01 for human machine interface design, and ANSI/API RP 755 for fatigue risk management. Service areas include:
• Operator performance and operator workload studies
• Alarm management, from philosophy development through rationalization
• High-performance HMI philosophy, style guides and screen design
• Control room and console design aligned with ISO 11064
• Fatigue risk assessments and fatigue risk management plans
• Work team design and management of organizational change
• Client training in HMI, alarm management, operator performance and control room design
Clients can engage MCPG at any point in a project, starting with educational workshops or a gap analysis of an existing facility, then moving into standards development and detailed design for new or upgraded rooms. Because the group operates within Fountainhead, its recommendations can carry through to turnkey delivery, including consoles and technical furniture, full AV integration and raised access flooring.
“Our customers count on us to build rooms that hold up under pressure,” said Jamie Clark, President of Fountainhead Control Rooms. “With David leading MCPG, we can now help them get the operational side right as well, from alarm philosophy to shift structure, before the first console is installed.”
Lee is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE). He spent 22 years in the specialty chemicals industry, primarily as an automation engineer and manager, with additional roles in project management, IT and operations. For the past 20 years he has worked as a consultant focused on operator performance and automation. He has delivered projects in about 40 countries across chemicals, oil and gas, mining, pulp and paper, power generation and transmission, pipelines and other sectors.
Lee serves on the Executive Board of the International Society of Automation (ISA) as Standards and Practices chair, and is slated to become ISA President-Elect/Secretary in 2027 and ISA President in 2028. He is a member of several ISA standards committees, including ISA-18.2, ISA-101 and ISA-106, and serves as a U.S. Technical Advisory Group expert to IEC SC65, focused on IEC 63303.
Organizations planning a new control room, upgrading an existing one, or working through alarm, HMI or staffing challenges can contact David Lee at david.lee@fountainheadcontrolrooms.com or 678-506-7335.
About Fountainhead Control Rooms
Fountainhead Control Rooms, based in Norcross, Georgia, designs and delivers custom control room consoles, ergonomic operator workstations and integrated AV and technology solutions for mission-critical environments, including 911 and emergency communications centers, real-time crime centers, emergency operations centers, utilities and power generation facilities. Learn more at fountainheadcontrolrooms.com.
Media contact
Kyle Mundt Fountainhead Control Rooms | 404.596.5255 | kyle@fountainheadcontrolrooms.com
Kyle Mundt
Fountainhead Control Rooms
+1 404-596-5255
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