IT support for manufacturing in South Wales: Support that understands the shop floor.
The machine running your production line is not a laptop. It may be old, it may run software nobody supports any more, and it absolutely cannot be rebooted halfway through a shift because an update decided it was time.
Two very different networks in one building.
Most manufacturers are effectively running two IT estates. There is the office side, which looks like any other business, and there is the production side, where equipment is older, uptime matters more, and a well-meaning security update can stop a line.
Treating both the same is how manufacturers get hurt. We separate them properly, so the machines controlling production are not sitting on the same flat network as reception, and so a problem on one side does not take out the other.
We also work around you. Planned work happens during changeovers, shutdowns or quiet shifts rather than whenever suits us, because the cost of stopping a line dwarfs the cost of the IT work itself.
What we handle for manufacturers.
- → Network segregation between production equipment and general office IT
- → Support for legacy machines and older operating systems that cannot simply be replaced
- → Industrial Wi-Fi and structured cabling built for a workshop environment (TP-Link Omada certified)
- → Patch management planned around shift patterns rather than applied blindly
- → Monitored backups and disaster recovery planning for production and business data
- → Cyber security: firewalls, endpoint protection and segmentation to contain any incident
- → Microsoft 365 administration for the office side: accounts, mailboxes, licensing and security
- → CCTV, access control and site security, installed and maintained by the same team
- → Hardware procurement and supply, including ruggedised and industrial-grade equipment
Production comes first.
Work planned around shifts
Upgrades, patching and cabling scheduled for changeovers, shutdowns or quiet periods. We would rather come in at an awkward hour than stop your line during production.
Legacy handled honestly
Plenty of production equipment runs software that is years past support and cannot be replaced without replacing the machine. We isolate and protect it properly instead of pretending it does not exist.
Contained if it goes wrong
Segmented networks mean an incident on the office side does not reach the shop floor. That containment is the difference between an annoying morning and a stopped line.
Manufacturing IT questions, answered.
Yes. A lot of production equipment runs software that is long past vendor support and cannot be upgraded without replacing the machine itself. The right answer is to isolate and protect it with network segregation and strict access control, which is exactly how we approach it.
Yes, and we would recommend it. Keeping production equipment off the same flat network as general office IT limits what an incident can reach and stops office-side changes affecting production.
Yes. Planned work is scheduled around changeovers, shutdowns or quiet shifts. Stopping a production line to apply an update is far more expensive than doing the work at an inconvenient hour.
Yes. We hold trade accounts with the major UK distributors and can specify and supply equipment suited to a workshop environment rather than standard office kit that will not survive it.
Yes. Large open spans, racking and metal all affect wireless coverage. We are TP-Link Omada certified and design coverage around the actual building and its contents rather than assuming standard office access points will do.
Free IT health check for your site.
A no-obligation review of your network, segregation, backups and security posture, written up in plain English with the risks ranked.