C03 — Machine Connectivity & Integration

Get the data off the machines. Get the floor talking to the business.

Your machines already generate the signal. It stops at a local HMI, a controller with no network path, or a meter nobody reads. We connect it — including the equipment vendors say can't be connected — normalise it, and integrate it into the systems your business runs on.

Book a Connected Floor Audit→ All capabilities

The straight answer

What does machine connectivity and integration cover?

Two connected layers. Downwards: connecting PLCs, SCADA systems, sensors, meters and instruments through edge gateways, then normalising heterogeneous protocols into one consistent data structure. Upwards: integrating that structured floor data into ERP, MES, QMS and analytics platforms so plans and actuals reconcile automatically. It includes retrofit sensing for legacy assets that have no digital output at all.

Signal path — from controller to decision

When this is relevant

You probably need this if…

Machine data is visible on the machine and nowhere else.
Production counts are entered by hand from a mechanical counter.
You have a SCADA system that nobody outside the control room can see.
Energy is a monthly bill rather than a number per shift or per unit.
Your ERP shows a stock figure everyone knows is wrong.
A vendor has told you your older machines cannot be connected.

What we fix

Problems we address

Machine data trapped behind proprietary protocols with no path out.
Raw telemetry dumped into charts nobody acts on — data without context.
Every integration built point-to-point, so the estate becomes unmaintainable.
Master data mismatched between systems, so reconciliation is manual forever.
Legacy assets excluded from the programme because connecting them looked hard.
OT and IT treated as separate worlds by people who own only one of them.

Our approach

How we work through it.

Survey the asset base before promising anything
We walk the plant and inventory what each machine can actually expose — controller make and model, available ports, existing network path, whether the OEM locked the interface. Connectivity estimates made from a spreadsheet are usually wrong.
Capture context, not just signal
A stop event on its own is a number. A stop event tied to the shift, the operator, the product, the tool and the last maintenance action is a diagnosis. We design the data model so signals arrive already connected to the operating context.
Normalise once, at the edge
Heterogeneous protocols get translated into one consistent structure at the gateway rather than in every downstream application. It costs slightly more upfront and saves an enormous amount when you add the ninth machine type.
Retrofit where reading is impossible
When a controller genuinely cannot be interrogated, we retrofit — current sensing on the drive, proximity or vision counting, vibration or temperature monitoring. Age of equipment changes the method, not the outcome.
Integrate through a layer, never point-to-point
Systems get connected through a middleware and API layer with documented contracts, so replacing one system later doesn't unpick the other six.

Coverage

Assets, protocols and systems we work with.

Indicative rather than exhaustive — the specific list is validated per site during the connectivity survey.

Machine & asset types

CNC / VMC / HMCInjection mouldingPress & stamping Welding cellsAssembly lines & conveyorsPackaging & filling Robotic cellsFurnaces & ovensBoilers & chillers Compressors & pumpsHVAC & DG setsETP / STP systems Weighing scalesVision & inspection systemsTorque tools & test benches Energy, water & air metersTemperature, pressure, flow, vibration sensors

Protocols & interfaces

OPC UA / OPC DAModbus TCP / RTUMQTT EtherNet/IPPROFINET / PROFIBUSEtherCAT CANopen / DeviceNetBACnetHART / IO-Link RS-232 / RS-485Siemens S7Mitsubishi MC Omron FINSAllen-Bradley / RockwellREST / HTTPS APIs SNMP / FTP / SFTPDigital & analog I/OPulse counters

C03.01

Edge & Machine Connectivity

Physical and logical connection from the asset to a normalised data stream.

Connectivity survey and asset inventory
Edge gateway selection and deployment
PLC / SCADA / historian integration
Protocol normalisation
Network segmentation and OT security review

C03.02

Retrofit Sensing

Instrumenting assets that expose nothing digitally.

Current and power sensing on drives
Proximity, photoelectric and vision counting
Vibration and temperature monitoring
Sub-metering for utilities
Non-invasive installation planned around production

C03.03

Enterprise Integration

Connecting the floor to the systems the business already runs on.

ERP integration and reconciliation
MES and QMS connectivity
Middleware and API layer design
Master data alignment and governance
Interface documentation and contracts

Deliverables

What you get

A connectivity survey covering every asset in scope and what it can expose.
Deployed edge gateways with secure, monitored transmission.
A normalised data model consistent across machine types and vendors.
Live telemetry feeding dashboards, workflows, alerts and escalations.
Documented integrations to ERP, MES and QMS with defined contracts.
An OT network and security review with remediation recommendations.
Handover documentation your engineering team can maintain.

Outcomes

What changes

Production counts and downtime are recorded automatically, not typed in.
An alarm becomes a logged event with a work order attached, not a light on a panel.
Energy becomes a number per unit produced rather than a monthly invoice.
Plans and actuals reconcile without anyone re-keying at shift end.
Legacy machines join the same reporting view as the new ones.
Adding the next machine type is a configuration task, not a project.

Engagement

How we partner on this.

Model	Scope	Typical duration
Connectivity Survey	Asset-by-asset assessment of what can be connected, how, and at what cost. Standalone deliverable.	1–2 weeks
Pilot Connection	A representative set of machines connected end to end, proving the approach before scale.	3–6 weeks
Plant Connectivity Programme	Full machine and utility connectivity across the site, with normalisation and integration.	2–6 months
Integration Programme	Enterprise integration layer connecting floor, ERP, MES, QMS and analytics.	2–5 months

Questions

Frequently asked

Sometimes, and sometimes it means the OEM would prefer you buy their monitoring package. Where a controller is genuinely closed, we retrofit — current sensing on the drive, proximity or vision counting, external metering. There are very few production assets from which nothing useful can be measured; there are many from which reading it is inconvenient.

It's a risk that needs managing rather than a reason not to proceed. We work through segmentation, one-way data flow where appropriate, gateway hardening and access control as part of the design, and we run an OT network review as standard. The alternative — unmanaged USB sticks and engineering laptops moving between machines — is usually the larger exposure in practice.

Almost never. SCADA does control; we're doing contextualised reporting and workflow. In most cases we read from the existing SCADA or historian rather than duplicating it, which is faster and cheaper than any replacement.

It varies widely with what the asset exposes. A modern machine with OPC UA is largely a configuration exercise. A thirty-year-old press needing retrofit sensing costs meaningfully more. The connectivity survey exists specifically to give you a real per-asset number before you commit to a programme.

In most cases yes — network-level integration requires no stoppage at all. Retrofit sensing needs physical access, which we schedule into planned maintenance windows or changeovers. We plan around your production calendar rather than asking you to plan around us.