IT that does not stop the line
In automotive, IT hangs on a physical process that runs to time. A supplier who misses a delivery stops their customer’s line, and that is a bill counted in hours. We set up IT so that a fault does not carry through to the delivery, and so that what happened can be traced afterwards.
The chain sets requirements you did not write
Anyone supplying into automotive works within their customer’s agreements, and those agreements touch IT directly.
An automotive supplier rarely has one customer and never one standard. The customer sets requirements on delivery, on documentation and for some years now on information security as well, and those requirements arrive not as advice but as a condition of being allowed to supply. TISAX is the best known: an information security assessment that originated in the German car industry and is now asked for across most of the chain. Whoever does not hold it drops out of some tenders altogether.
That changes what IT is here. It is not only about availability but about demonstrability: who had access to a customer’s drawings, where does that data sit, and how is it separated from the data of the customer next to it. For a supplier with three customers, that last one is not a theoretical question but a design choice that has to be made up front.
Where the time actually sits
The most expensive hour in this sector is the hour the line stands still. That makes the trade-off different from an office: a ten-minute network fault is a nuisance elsewhere and here a production loss that carries into the rest of the week’s planning. So we design around the question of what keeps working when something fails, rather than how quickly we can get it going again.
Concretely that means: the shop floor network separated from the office, machines and measurement systems in their own zone, and failover for the systems that hold the orders and the deliveries. What the machine supplier manages stays theirs; we make sure the agreements about it are recorded and that there is one place where a fault arrives.
Dealers and workshops
At the other end of the same sector sit dealers and workshops, and there the picture differs: many sites, a dealer management system running centrally, diagnostic equipment tied to the brand and a workshop where people operate a screen wearing gloves. The question there is not continuity of a line but whether a site can carry on by itself when the connection drops, and whether a technician at site four sees the same thing as at site one.
What we take on in an automotive environment
You choose what you need. It all falls under one contract, one report and one point of contact.
- Separation between office and shop floorMachines, measurement systems and control in their own zone, with links that are named and do not quietly grow because a project was in a hurry.
- Customer data kept apartDrawings, specifications and measurement data from different customers sit separately, with role-based access and a record of who could reach them.
- Availability of order and delivery systemsThe systems the delivery hangs on get a recovery time agreed in advance, with failover where downtime carries straight through to the customer.
- Records that stand up to an auditAccess, changes and incidents are recorded in a way that handles a TISAX assessment or a customer audit.
- Workplaces that survive the environmentOn the floor and in the workshop, equipment that takes dust, vibration and gloves, with a replacement device ready rather than an order to place.
- One place for faultsIncluding where machine suppliers and a dealer management system are involved: one report, one owner and agreements on who picks up what.
How we take over an automotive environment
In this order, because a surprise during the handover here hits the delivery and not only the office.
Walk the floor
At the machines, in the workshop and in the office. An hour of walking along shows which connections genuinely exist and which of them nobody has on a drawing any more.
Map the chain and the requirements
Which customers set which requirements, whose data sits where, and which link into a customer system runs inbound. That decides where we start.
Agree windows and response times
When may work happen on which side and which response time belongs to which system. That goes into an SLA in plain language, with out-of-hours cover where shifts are worked.
Adjust on what we see
The reporting shows faults, turnaround times and recurring causes per site and per line. Those figures exist to improve the environment and are usable towards your customer.
The services that come up most here
These building blocks come up most in an automotive environment.
Looking further
Recognise the picture but work in another industry? Then look at the other sectors.
Questions we get about this
The ones that come up most, answered briefly.
Can you help with the requirements our customer sets, such as TISAX?
We set up the environment so those requirements are achievable: role-based access, customer data kept apart and records that stand up to an assessment. The assessment itself is done by an accredited party and the certificate is in your name; we supply the technology and the documentation underneath it.
Do you also manage the machines on the floor?
No. What the machine supplier maintains stays theirs, control systems included. We manage the IT around it and make sure the link to the office is named, the zones are separated and a fault arrives at one service desk instead of three.
Do you work for dealers and workshops as well?
Yes, and that is a different question from a factory. There it is about many sites, a central dealer management system and whether a site can carry on by itself when the connection drops. That last one is the question we answer first.
Tell us what stops when the connection drops
Name the systems the delivery hangs on, the requirements your customers set and the sites that have to carry on by themselves. We build the separation, the cover and the record-keeping around that.