From Singapore to Cannes: What We Learned at Asia Downstream 2025

From the booth floor in Singapore, one idea stood out above all:

AI in process control doesn’t need new algorithms — it needs to explain itself and be trusted.

That message echoed through every keynote, panel, and hallway at Asia Downstream 2025 (ADS).

The industry conversation has shifted. The focus is no longer on what AI can do, but whether operators can understand and trust what it does.

When AI Thinks Like an Engineer

In his session “From Data to Decision: Building Process Industry AI that Thinks Like an Engineer,” our Managing Director, Filippo Trivella, captured that shift perfectly.

He argued that industrial AI must reason like the people who use it — integrating design logic, safety intent, and process knowledge into every recommendation.

“Optimization doesn’t come from predicting the next number,” he said.
“It comes from understanding the context behind it.”

Explainability isn’t a feature anymore — it’s the foundation of adoption.

That’s what transforms a model from a black box into a trusted advisor.

At the Booth: Conversations That Mattered

For Alpha Process Control, that theme came alive on the exhibition floor.

Throughout the three days, the ChatAPC product tour drew strong attention and steady traffic. Visitors — from control engineers to executives — wanted to see what “explainable AI” looks like in action.

And they quickly discovered that ChatAPC makes your plant talk back.

Operators could ask why a constraint was moved, how a safety margin was applied, or what design envelope supported a change — and ChatAPC explained it, clearly and in real time.

The response was consistent:

“That’s what we’ve been missing.”

One highlight came with the visit of Singapore’s Minister of Trade & Industry, who spent time with our team discussing the role of explainable AI in improving efficiency, safety, and knowledge transfer across generations of operators.

From Insight to Trust

Across the event, one message was repeated in different ways:

The barrier to digital transformation isn’t capability — it’s confidence.

Plants already have advanced models and rich data. What they lack is transparency.

When AI can show its reasoning, trust follows — and that’s when technology adoption scales.

That’s exactly where ChatAPC fits: turning APC logic into a transparent, conversational system that operators can question, understand, and trust.

Because when engineers and AI can talk to each other, optimization becomes collaboration.

Looking Ahead: ERTC Cannes

From Singapore to Cannes, the conversation continues.

At the European Refinery Technology Conference - ERTC 2025, AlphaProc will continue to show how explainable AI is redefining process optimization across continents.

Visitors will see how ChatAPC bridges design intent, real-time data, and human expertise  — transforming control rooms into environments where every decision is backed by reasoning, not mystery.

The question we brought to ADS still stands:

Does your plant talk back?