Manufacturing depends on reliable technology to keep operations moving.
Why?
Because manufacturing runs on uptime. When a connection fails, an Enterprise Resource Platform (ERP) server goes down, or a ransomware attack encrypts your production data, the costs add up every hour. Your company misses shipments, employees sit idle, and customers start looking for another manufacturer to work with.
ISOutsource solves these problems by delivering managed IT services, cybersecurity, and Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) compliance support designed for manufacturers across Washington, Oregon, and Arizona. We help with everything from precision machining and aerospace suppliers to food processing and industrial equipment makers.
Understanding how IT downtime negatively impacts your manufacturing company will help you understand how to avoid workflow interruptions using managed IT services.
How Does IT Downtime Affect Manufacturing Operations?
Downtime can negatively impact manufacturing operations. Here’s how:
Production can slow or stop when critical systems are unavailable
Unfortunately, technology availability and manufacturing output are related in ways that cannot be defined solely by financial objectives. When production slows down or stops entirely, manufacturers lose profits and damage their reputation.
IT disruptions can affect more than the production floor
Downtime can affect connected business activities, such as communication, scheduling, inventory, reporting, and other supporting operations. Advances in communication technology have inspired the evolution of cybercrime. Without secure, reliable networks, manufacturers can’t maintain their connected devices, protect them from hackers, or collect and analyze Internet of Things (IoT) data.
Which Manufacturing Processes can be affected by IT Downtime?
Many manufacturing processes can be negatively affected by IT downtime, including:
Production and scheduling
Unavailable systems can interrupt workflows, block access to information, and make scheduling activities difficult.
Inventory and supply chain operations
Technology disruptions can make accessing or updating the information needed to support materials and inventory processes difficult.
Quality control and reporting
Downtime can disrupt QA workflows and trigger negative repercussions for the systems and information used to support quality, documentation, and reporting.
Communication and business operations
Broader technology disruptions to business collaboration and communication can make the employee and business functions that support manufacturing operations impossible to carry out.
How Can Manufacturers Reduce the Impact of IT Downtime?
1) Identify critical systems and technology dependencies
Manufacturers need to understand which systems are most important in day-to-day operations and what business functions depend on them.
2) Prepare for business continuity and recovery
Manufacturing companies need to plan for disasters and how to recover from them to maintain business continuity.
3) Test recovery plans and processes
Manufacturers should test their disaster recovery plans instead of assuming the existing recovery plan will work.
4) Maintain reliable infrastructure, backups, and security
To maintain reliable IT environments, manufacturers should make improvements to infrastructure, backups, and security, take advantage of cloud services, and opt for IT security and data protection services.
Why Your Manufacturing Company Needs Managed Cybersecurity
The stronger your manufacturing company’s cybersecurity, the more profitable and long-lasting it will be. To find out more about how Managed Cybersecurity Services help manufacturing companies thrive, read the ISOutsource Case Study “How Pacific Tool Secured Its IT Environment.”
Learn how ISOutsource supports manufacturing businesses with IT services designed to help minimize downtime, maintain reliable systems, and support business continuity.