The problem
Enterprise facilities run fleets — dozens of machines from different manufacturers, vintages, and protocols. Getting them to share data costs hundreds of thousands in custom middleware.
MES systems were supposed to solve this. Instead they became another complexity layer — expensive, painful, rigid. Most deployments take 12–18 months and cost more than the machines they monitor.
Defense contractors face an extra burden: CMMC compliance across a mixed fleet. Retrofitting compliance onto a heterogeneous shop floor is the single biggest barrier to small manufacturers entering the defense supply chain.