IT Support Built for Manufacturing

Manufacturing IT is fundamentally different from office IT. You have operational technology (OT) on the shop floor — CNC machines, PLCs, SCADA systems — that must run continuously and cannot be patched or updated on a typical IT schedule. You have ERP systems that drive production and cannot tolerate downtime. You have environmental challenges (metal buildings, electromagnetic interference, extreme temperatures) that destroy consumer-grade equipment. A generalist IT provider will either break your production systems or ignore them entirely.

OT/IT convergence means your operational technology (machines, sensors, controllers on the shop floor) and your information technology (servers, email, ERP) are increasingly connected. This connection creates efficiency — real-time production data flowing into your ERP — but also creates risk. Without proper network segmentation, a phishing email opened in the front office could reach and disable equipment on your shop floor. We design networks that enable the data flow while blocking the attack paths.

We never recommend upgrading a system that will break production or void a machine warranty. Instead, we isolate legacy systems in secure network segments, implement virtual machine containment where possible, restrict access to only the users and systems that need connectivity, and monitor for threats without disrupting machine operations. When you are ready to upgrade (typically during a machine refresh cycle), we plan and execute the migration.

We support the ERP platforms common in Western Washington manufacturing: Epicor, SAP Business One, SYSPRO, JobBOSS, Global Shop Solutions, IQMS (DELMIAworks), Plex, and others. We handle database optimization, server performance, integration with shop floor systems, update management, and backup/recovery. If your ERP vendor recommends infrastructure changes, we implement them correctly.

Manufacturing environments are hostile to wireless signals. We deploy industrial-grade access points designed for metal buildings and high-interference environments, conduct professional RF site surveys to identify dead zones, use directional antennas where needed, and implement wireless controllers that manage roaming and load balancing. We design for the shop floor first, not the office.

We assume attackers will target your operation because manufacturing downtime is expensive — and ransomware operators know it. Our defense includes network segmentation (OT isolated from IT), endpoint detection on every business system, email security that stops phishing, immutable backups that cannot be encrypted by ransomware, and continuous network monitoring that detects suspicious activity before it reaches production systems.

Yes. We provide secure site-to-site connectivity between plants, centralized ERP access, consistent security policies, and unified monitoring across all locations. We manage multi-site manufacturers with facilities across Western Washington and can extend connectivity to warehouse and distribution locations as well.