Question 1

What does IT downtime cost a manufacturing company per hour?

Accepted Answer

According to industry studies, unplanned downtime in manufacturing costs an average of $260,000 per hour across all sectors, though actual costs for smaller Eastern PA manufacturers vary based on production volume and workforce. Even for a small manufacturer, a few hours of ERP or network downtime can mean missed shipments, idle labor, and production schedule delays with downstream costs far exceeding the IT investment required to prevent them.

Question 2

What is the difference between OT and IT in a manufacturing environment?

Accepted Answer

IT (Information Technology) refers to your business computing infrastructure: servers, workstations, email, ERP. OT (Operational Technology) refers to the industrial control systems, PLCs, SCADA systems, and automated equipment on the production floor. Increasingly, OT systems are networked and connected to IT systems for monitoring and reporting — creating security risks where a breach on the office network can potentially reach production equipment. Proper network segmentation keeps these environments separate.

Question 3

How should a manufacturer protect industrial control systems from cyberattacks?

Accepted Answer

OT cybersecurity for manufacturers includes: network segmentation to isolate production floor systems from office networks and the internet, strict access controls on systems that touch industrial equipment, asset inventory of all connected OT devices, regular vulnerability assessments, and a written incident response procedure specific to production disruption scenarios. Air-gapping critical systems where feasible adds an additional layer of protection.

Question 4

What ERP and production systems do Eastern Pennsylvania manufacturers typically run?

Accepted Answer

Common ERP and production systems used by manufacturers in Berks, Lancaster, and Lehigh counties include Epicor, Sage, NetSuite, SAP Business One, and JobBOSS for job-shop environments. Maintaining uptime, performance, and security for these systems requires an IT provider familiar with their architecture, database requirements, and integration with production floor systems.

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