Network infrastructure for factories and manufacturing sites

Manufacturing sites are hard environments for networks. Steel structures, racking and stored stock block and reflect wireless signals. Motors, welders and variable-speed drives create electrical noise. Distances between buildings often exceed what standard copper cabling supports, which is where fibre comes in.

On top of that, production equipment often runs for years without changes, and some of it can't be easily updated or restarted. A network that suits an office can struggle badly on a factory floor.

Many factories have grown a single, flat network where office computers, production machines, cameras and visitor devices can all reach each other. That makes problems harder to contain: a virus on an office laptop, or a misbehaving device, can affect equipment on the production line.

We design networks in zones, separating production systems from office systems and controlling exactly what can pass between them. Equipment vendors who need remote access are given a controlled, auditable way in, rather than an always-open connection.

Smart manufacturing (sometimes called Industry 4.0) depends on the network: sensors, connected machines, CCTV and production data all need reliable connectivity. Planning for that capacity now avoids expensive rework later.

We size switching, Power over Ethernet and backbone capacity for what you're adding next, and make sure production data can reach the systems that need it, securely.

When production depends on the network, resilience matters. We look at single points of failure and plan practical options to reduce them, matched to what downtime would cost your business.