Dean Wadley, 26
Controls Engineer
FS-Elliott
Export, PA, United States
What Makes Dean an Engineering Leader
Dean has been instrumental in developing FS-Elliott’s new control system, the Regulus R3000. He developed a new HMI interface from the ground up using Siemens’ new Unified panels and focused on improving the efficiency of the control program code.
His efforts will support substantial improvements in quality, performance and future scalability. Dean’s work on the R3000 is helping FS-Elliott remain a technology leader in its field.
Leadership & Industry Contributions
Dean was instrumental in leading other engineers to bring the R3000 project to completion. He led a team of three support engineers to modernize the HMI touchscreen and PLC code in parallel, improving both functionality and visualizations across the platform.
Beyond technical direction, Dean actively sought input from sales, marketing and senior leadership to ensure the upgraded system reflected customer-facing priorities and long-term product strategy. He then translated that feedback into actionable engineering requirements for his team.
Throughout the project, Dean mentored each support engineer as they learned the new platform and built their capabilities, while keeping the work on schedule. His ability to listen to and act on cross-functional feedback, develop engineers and lead a complex modernization effort exemplifies the leadership that strengthens FS-Elliott’s engineering capability.
Dean has also supported FS-Elliott’s internal service training initiatives by sharing technical expertise and helping develop the skills of service personnel. He has contributed to knowledge-transfer efforts that improve troubleshooting capabilities, equipment understanding and best practices for maintaining reliable compressor operation in the field.
Why Dean Chose This Career
From a young age, Dean has enjoyed tinkering with electronics and learning through a hands-on approach. Controls engineering gave him the opportunity not only to develop code that performs complex tasks, but also to see it in action by physically controlling machinery.
The combination of hardware and software has always intrigued Dean, and pursuing this career keeps him engaged. As the field of controls expands into new applications, he is excited to see where it takes him over the next 10 to 20 years.
