At Asia Downstream 2025 in Singapore, Alpha Process Control introduced something long in the making.
After years of translating field experience into design, ChatAPC made its public debut during Filippo Trivella’s session, “From Data to Decision: Building Process Industry AI That Thinks Like an Engineer.”
The message was direct: modern plants don’t need more algorithms — they need AI that reasons.
ChatAPC is that step.
It’s the industry’s first explainable control-room copilot — a system built to make APC transparent, conversational, and trusted.
It doesn’t just optimize; it explains. It doesn’t replace operators; it works with them.
For decades, Advanced Process Control (APC) has stabilized operations and improved margins.
But even the best controllers struggle when their logic is invisible to the people they serve.
Operators are asked to trust optimizers they can’t question. They see the moves, but not the reasoning.
ChatAPC closes that gap.
It combines model-based optimization, engineering knowledge, and conversational intelligence to create a real-time advisor that operators can interrogate and understand.
When it recommends an action — say, “reduce pressure by 3 psi” — it adds the reasoning:
“Hydraulic models indicate flooding risk is increasing.
Tray-design data confirms this change remains within design limits.
SOP 4.2 defines this as a safe and efficient adjustment.”
That clarity turns automation into collaboration.
Across industry, two realities converge:
Digital tools must now do more than automate — they must communicate.
ChatAPC was built for that moment.
It captures decades of operational knowledge, links it to live process data, and makes it accessible in natural language.
“AI becomes trustworthy not when it’s smarter — but when it’s understandable.”
Think of ChatAPC as a bridge between human expertise and digital optimization — not another controller, but a collaborator.
Conversational: Operators can ask why, what if, or how and get direct, contextual answers.
Explainable: Each recommendation references design documents, safety margins, and operating envelopes.
Adaptive: It learns from shift feedback, preserving institutional knowledge.
In practice, this means faster troubleshooting, higher APC uptime, and smoother coordination between engineers and operators.
The black box becomes a glass box — one that talks back.
The concepts behind ChatAPC have been building throughout this blog series — from Why APC Underperforms to Breaking Down the Black Box.
At Asia Downstream 2025, they became reality.
Visitors to Booth D4 saw ChatAPC live: a dialogue with a simulated distillation column where the system explained every optimization step.
What began as theory is now a working solution — ready for deployment today.
“From theory to reality: conversational APC is here.”
Trust and transparency have always defined great operations.
ChatAPC extends those values into the digital era.
By making optimization explainable and interaction intuitive, it aligns people, processes, and AI into one shared logic.
The outcome: greater stability, faster decisions, and renewed confidence in automation.
The goal isn’t more automation.
It’s better collaboration — between humans, systems, and the intelligence that connects them.
Couldn’t attend the event?
A product tour is live on our website — showing how ChatAPC interprets process data, references engineering documentation, and explains its logic in real time.
Because the future of process optimization isn’t silent.
It’s conversational.