Manufacturing
IT and networking built for the plant floor, not just the office
Manufacturing runs on uptime. When a line goes down, every minute has a dollar figure attached — and most IT providers simply aren’t equipped to work in that environment. The hard part is that two very different worlds have to coexist on one network: your business systems and your operational technology — PLCs, SCADA, automation, machine vision, sensors. We understand both, and how to keep them properly separated while letting the right data flow between them.
Where the office meets the plant floor
The hard part of manufacturing IT is that two very different worlds have to coexist on one network: your business systems (computers, email, ERP) and your operational technology (PLCs, SCADA, automation, machine vision, sensors). We understand both sides — and, just as importantly, how to keep them properly separated while still letting the right data flow between them.
17 years, three plants, over 400,000 square feet
Our longest manufacturing engagement is a 17-year relationship with a single client across three facilities. The first plant — around 120,000 square feet — was a full rip-and-replace of a failing copper daisy-chained network. We rebuilt it as a redundant fibre backbone with VLAN segmentation, spanning-tree protection, QoS, and ACL-based access control: the kind of converged, properly engineered infrastructure that was ahead of its time in that sector. The second plant, roughly 200,000 square feet, was engineered in from the building-planning phase through to full production — designed from the ground up for a converged IT/OT environment. The third, about 130,000 square feet at a second location, was another full rip-and-replace, plus the planning and buildout of a new server room that now houses the network core. Across all three, the same principle holds: one network, everything on it, built to run without surprises.
How we help manufacturers
- Converged IT/OT networks — a single infrastructure carrying data, automation, video, and voice, engineered with VLANs, ACLs, and QoS so each kind of traffic gets exactly what it needs; see our Networking & Wireless service
- IT/OT segmentation & security — isolating the plant floor from the business network so a problem on one side can’t take down the other, and so threats can’t move freely between them
- Connecting legacy equipment — bringing older machines and controllers onto a modern, manageable network without forcing a costly rip-and-replace
- Designed for uptime — resilient, redundant network design so a single failure doesn’t stop production
- Room to grow — networks built to absorb new lines, new equipment, and new sites without starting over
- Compliance support — helping manufacturers in regulated and defense supply chains meet CMMC and Canadian security requirements through our Security & Compliance service
Why manufacturers work with us
- We speak both languages — IT and the realities of plant-floor automation networking
- We’ve done it at scale — over 400,000 square feet across three plants, with one client, over 17 years
- One Canadian partner for the network, the servers, the security, and the support
- We design for the thing you care about most: keeping production running
Let’s make your technology one less thing to worry about.
Tell us about your business and we’ll show you what better-managed IT looks like.