How a Food & Beverage Firm Improved OT Asset Management

Many manufacturers fail to update legacy systems and software, increasing the risk of cyberattacks, creating inefficiencies that chip away at results, and complicating digital transformation efforts. That’s the situation a global food and beverage manufacturer found itself facing as it began planning a multiyear modernization project. The company had three main challenges it needed to address.

First, the company needed to streamline management of its critical operations technology (OT) systems and integrate new assets that hadn't been consistently implemented with the aging technologies still in use. Without this integration, the company’s workforce lacked the skills to manage the OT systems.

Compounding matters, the COVID-19 pandemic stoked demand for food products. The company’s business leaders worried that their technology infrastructure couldn't withstand the increasing traffic, potentially resulting in downtime and loss of revenue.

The company also needed help implementing secure remote access to protect against rising cybersecurity incidents as more employees and third parties worked from home.

Combined, these factors created an unstable and unreliable technology ecosystem that caused unplanned financial losses. The manufacturer needed help with implementing consistent, reliable management of its OT digital assets to help deliver reliable uptime amidst the challenges.

Managing Cybersecurity

The company asked Rockwell Automation to deploy its managed services to better help protect against cyberattack, and create a stable and efficient environment. Managed network and cybersecurity services help manufacturers tackle the challenges of securing networks, equipment and data previously isolated from IT networks and risk.

Outdated equipment and skills gaps are roadblocks for IT/OT convergence and digital transformation. Rockwell Automation Managed Services operated as an extension of the company, helping with cybersecurity and allowing the food and beverage producer to focus on other priorities and areas of expertise.

Rockwell Automation worked with the company to design an enterprise OT-managed support services program that supported all digital infrastructure equipment. Additional solutions were implemented to provide consistent deployment and support for critical applications, software, and infrastructure, and 24x7 remote monitoring.

Rockwell Automation also helped the company deploy 19 OT industrial data centers (IDCs) with a continuous threat-detection platform to address cybersecurity risks. And to help protect at-home workers, secure remote access was deployed at 40 North American sites.

Modernization Matters

The modernized infrastructure and supporting managed services reduced cybersecurity threats to the manufacturer’s corporate and OT networks. The 24/7 threat monitoring also helps minimize downtime risks.

Consistent deployment and integration of technology assets helped boost system reliability and improve application management and plant uptime. New secure remote access capabilities also help protect employees, third-party partners and the company’s infrastructure from cyber risks. Combined, these initiatives have allowed the company to increase efficiencies while reducing costs.

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