When the line goes down, you're not inconvenienced. You're not producing.
We help manufacturers keep production systems reliable and coordinated, the shop floor properly secured, and a ransomware attack or outage from bringing the line to a stop. Technology that keeps you making things, not technology that gets in the way.
Downtime has a number
In most businesses, a technology problem is a frustration. On a production floor, it’s measurable money. Every minute a line sits idle, you’re paying people and overhead to make nothing, the orders behind it back up, and a delivery date starts slipping. You almost certainly know your cost of downtime per hour. The strange thing is that most IT conversations never mention it.
Ours starts there. The first job of technology in a manufacturing business is to keep the floor running and the systems that run it working together. Everything else is in service of that.
Two worlds that have to work as one
A manufacturer really runs two kinds of technology. There’s the business side, email, accounting, your ERP, the office. And there’s the operational side, the machines, controllers, and systems that make the product. They were usually built by different people, at different times, with different assumptions, and they’ve grown dependent on each other.
The trouble starts when those two worlds aren’t coordinated, or worse, when they’re sitting on the same flat network with nothing between them. Then a problem on the office side can reach the floor, and a problem on the floor can stop the business. Keeping the two working together where they should, and properly separated where they must be, is the heart of getting manufacturing technology right.
Where it breaks down
The patterns repeat from shop to shop. Equipment that’s been running reliably for fifteen years on software that can’t be updated anymore. One flat network where the office computers and the production equipment share everything, so a single infected laptop can reach a machine on the line. An ERP, an inventory system, and a shipping system that don’t talk to each other, so people reconcile them by hand and mistakes creep in. Backups that have never been tested against a real production stoppage.
And then there’s ransomware. Attackers specifically go after manufacturers, because they understand the math better than anyone, a stopped line creates intense pressure to pay quickly, just to start making things again. The pressure that makes downtime so costly is exactly what makes a manufacturer a target.
How we help a manufacturer
Most manufacturers come to us for one of these and stay for the rest. They all point at the same goal: keep producing, and keep what you’re producing on safe ground.
- Keep the floor running. Monitoring, reliability, and a response time sized for production, where an hour matters in a way it doesn’t in an office.
- Separate and secure the shop floor. Put real separation between the production network and the business network, so a problem in one can’t take down the other.
- Coordinate the systems. Get the ERP, inventory, production, and shipping systems working together instead of being reconciled by hand.
- Recover fast when something stops. Tested backups and a real recovery plan, so a ransomware hit or outage is measured in hours, not weeks. See Business Continuity & Recovery.
- Protect old and new equipment alike. Secure what can’t be patched by controlling what’s allowed to reach it. See Cybersecurity.
- The advocate role with your ERP and equipment vendors. We engage them engineer to engineer, so you’re not taking their reliability and security claims on faith.
The shop floor wasn't built with security in mind
Here’s the reality of manufacturing technology that the office world doesn’t have to deal with. The machines on your floor might run for fifteen or twenty years, on software that was never meant to sit on a network and can’t simply be patched or rebooted the way an office computer can. You can’t just replace a working machine because its controller is old, and you shouldn’t have to.
The answer isn’t to panic about it. It’s to stop treating the floor like the office. We protect equipment that can’t protect itself by controlling what’s allowed to reach it: separating the production network from the business network, watching the traffic between them, and making sure one compromised laptop in the front office can’t touch a machine on the line. If you also supply the defense industry, you may face specific requirements like NIST 800-171 or CMMC; we help you find out exactly what applies and meet it.
What a review turns up
Here's a recent one, anonymized:
Client Example, Manufacturer
A rapidly growing electrical manufacturing company needed an IT partner to secure their networks, systems and equipment as they scaled their operation across multiple geographical locations and time zones. A co-managed relationship was established to effectively augment and bolster their existing in-house technical resources.
What changed: We engaged with their small IT team to provide backend patching, updating and monitoring of all infrastructure to enable their team to focus on user support and higher-value project work.
Questions worth asking on the floor
What does an hour of downtime cost us, and is our IT built around that number?
Most manufacturers can answer the first half quickly and have never asked the second. If your technology and your recovery plan weren’t designed with your real cost of downtime in mind, then your IT is being run as if a stopped line were the same as a slow email day. It isn’t, and it shouldn’t be treated that way.
Is our production network separated from our office network?
For a lot of shops, the honest answer is no, or no one is sure. When the floor and the office share one flat network, a routine office infection can reach production equipment. Separating the two is one of the highest-value, least-glamorous things a manufacturer can do.
Could a ransomware attack stop our line, and how fast could we recover?
If you can’t answer the second part with confidence, that’s the thing to address before anything else. Manufacturers are targeted precisely because downtime is so expensive. Tested backups and a real recovery plan turn an existential event into a bad few hours.
Common questions
Usually downtime, and the things that cause it: an unseparated network where one infection reaches the floor, old equipment that can’t be secured the usual way, and a recovery plan that’s never been tested. The common thread is a stopped line, which is the most expensive problem in the building.
Because they have different risks and different rules. Office computers get patched and replaced often; production equipment runs for years on software that can’t be updated. Keeping them on separate networks means a problem on one side can’t spread to the other, so an email-borne infection can’t reach a machine on the line.
Yes, by protecting around it. If a machine can’t be patched, we control what’s allowed to communicate with it and watch the traffic, so the equipment keeps running while the risk around it is contained. You don’t have to replace a working machine to make it safer.
Yes, and we act as your advocate with those vendors, making sure the systems are reliable, coordinated, and configured to protect the business rather than just switched on and left alone.
Not sure where your biggest risk is
A few useful next steps, depending on what’s on your mind:
- Worried a stoppage could be catastrophic? Look at business continuity and recovery.
- Concerned the floor and office aren’t properly separated? See how we approach cybersecurity.
- Wondering where AI fits, and where it shouldn’t reach? See AI for Manufacturing.
- Supplying the defense industry? Start with compliance and what applies to you.
- Want real strategic guidance, not just support? See Fractional CIO and strategic advisory.
Start by putting a number on the risk
You already know what an hour of downtime costs you. The next question is whether your technology is built around that number, and where, today, you’re exposed to losing time you can’t afford. The assessment gives you that picture in a few minutes. If it’s useful, we’ll talk it through. No pressure, and no obligation.