Overview

Most digital transformations don't fail because the technology doesn't work. They fail because IT and OT are still solving different problems, in different languages, on different clocks.

Drawing on stories from the shopfloor and lessons from a hundred years of industrial change, Willem and David present their new book ""The IT/OT Handbook"" and show why uniting IT and OT is a structural choice, not a slogan, and what you can do about it on your next working day.

We'll explain why IT/OT convergence really fails (hint: it's not the technology), We'll introduce our seven patterns of collaboration that show where you are and how to evolve, and introduce our Data Platform Capability Map which serves as a north star for your next data or AI project. We will apply these examples to the context of a typical chemical plant.

Speaker

David Ariens, Founder/Consultant/Author, The IT/OT Insider

Starting as a Data Scientist, David rolled into the world of Industrial Digitalisation back in 2010. He got quickly passionate about how to involve the human factor into digital projects. He was the industrial digitalization director at BASF Antwerp until 2022. Until late 2025, David managed the company Analytics For Industry. Today, he is focusing on bringing real digital transformation to Manufacturing, Process and Infrastructure companies.

Willem Van Lammeren, Founder/Author, The IT/OT Insider

Willem holds a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from KU Leuven. He began his career in 2006 at Barry Callebaut, where he built a green-field frozen-pastry plant in the heat of southern Spain. A move to AB InBev followed, coordinating the roll-out of its Management Excellence Program across Western Europe. At BASF he deepened his cross-disciplinary expertise, ranging from OT in logistics, labs, and production to IT infrastructure, ERP, and middleware—discovering that real transformation hinges on people and the ways they work together.

Today Willem serves as Delivery Manager at Syensqo (formerly Solvay), guiding the creation of the company’s operational data lake while still finding every excuse to “geek out” on the production floor.

The material presented has not been peer-reviewed. Any opinions are the presenter’s own and do not necessarily represent those of IChemE or the Process Management and Control Special Interest Group. The information is given in good faith but without any liability on the part of IChemE.

Time

09:00–10:00 GMT.

Software

The presentation will be delivered via Microsoft Teams. We recommend downloading the app from the Microsoft website, rather than using the web portal.