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Industry 4.0 consulting and delivery, from diagnosis to the tenth plant.
Five connected capabilities covering the full arc of a manufacturing transformation, delivered by one team so that nothing is lost between the advice and the build.
What OrbitX does
OrbitX is a manufacturing digital transformation partner that both advises and builds.
We audit operations and design the roadmap, digitise shop-floor functions, connect machines and integrate enterprise systems, build custom software and applied AI where no product fits, and stay through adoption and multi-site rollout. Delivery runs on our own solution where it fits, a platform from the market where one fits better, or a bespoke build where nothing does.
In Industry 4.0 terms, that spans consulting, shop floor digitisation and MES, IIoT and machine connectivity, IT/OT integration, manufacturing analytics and AI, and change management.
Five capabilities
We find out what is actually wrong before anyone writes code.
- Operations and process audit
- OEE and loss analysis
- Digital maturity and Industry 4.0 readiness
- Digital roadmap and business case
- Technology and MES selection
- Process fixes before software
The core build: ten operating functions on one operational record, on a platform we implement or software we build.
- Production monitoring, OEE and downtime
- Quality, deviations and CAPA
- Maintenance and reliability
- Safety, permits and EHS
- Utilities, energy and ESG
- MES implementation or bespoke build
Data off every machine, including the old ones, and the floor reconciled with the systems the business runs on.
- PLC, SCADA and OPC UA integration
- IIoT edge gateways and retrofit sensing
- Machine monitoring
- Protocol normalisation
- IT/OT integration with ERP, MES and QMS
- Master data alignment
For everything that does not come in a box, on a data platform designed first.
- Unified manufacturing data platform
- Custom manufacturing software
- Operator and supervisor interfaces
- Manufacturing analytics
- Predictive maintenance and quality models
- Planning and scheduling tools
The part that decides whether the rest was worth doing.
- Training on the line
- Change management on the floor
- Daily management redesign
- Benefit tracking against baselines
- Managed support
- Multi-site rollout playbook
What a product alone cannot do.
A good manufacturing platform digitises workflows, connects machines and reports. We deliver all of that. It is also one layer of a transformation, and the only layer a product can be. Around it, we add:
- Operations consulting before digitisation, so a broken process is fixed rather than automated
- Technology selection scored on your process, including the recommendation not to buy
- Engineering beyond any product’s scope: planning tools, portals and bespoke analytics
- Integration across your whole estate, not one platform’s connector list
- Adoption designed in from the first sketch, not added as a training week
- Recovery of stalled implementations, including ones we did not start
Ways to engage
Five ways in, sized to where you are. Most relationships begin with one of the first two.
| Engagement | What it is | Typical duration | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connected Floor Audit Start here | On-site operations and data-flow mapping, a system landscape review, a quantified gap analysis and a sequenced roadmap with build, buy or fix calls. Yours to keep. | 2 to 4 weeks | You know something is wrong but not what to fix first. |
| Technology Selection | The platforms you are being offered, scored against your process rather than a demo. Our own solution is scored on the same sheet and labelled as ours. | 1 to 2 weeks | You are part-way through vendor conversations and cannot tell who is right. |
| Transformation Health Check Recovery | A diagnosis of a stalled or underperforming programme: why it stalled, what is salvageable and what finishing it would take. | Scoped to the programme | A system is live and the floor does not use it. |
| Line Pilot | One line, instrumented and digitised end to end, with a measured before and after. | 6 to 10 weeks | You need internal proof before committing to a full programme. |
| Connected Floor Programme | Multi-function digitisation across the plant, with connectivity, integration, adoption and support. | 4 to 12 months | The roadmap is agreed and you are ready to execute. |
The audit has a fixed fee, set at the first call and the same whichever route the roadmap points to: our solution, another platform, a bespoke build or none of them.
A free assessment has to end somewhere that pays for it. One you have commissioned can end wherever your operation points, including with another firm. That happens, and it is a legitimate outcome.
Common questions
What does Industry 4.0 mean for a plant like ours?
In practice, machines, people and business systems sharing reliable data quickly enough to change a decision on the shift: connected equipment, digitised workflows, ERP and MES that agree with the floor, and analytics on top. The technology is mature. Most programmes stall on integration and adoption, and that is the work we are built for.
How is this different from buying a manufacturing platform?
A platform is software you license and then have to implement, adopt and maintain. We cover the layer a product cannot: understanding your operation first, deciding whether software is the right answer at all, integrating across your whole estate and staying through adoption. Where a platform is the right answer, we implement it for you.
Do you replace our ERP or MES?
No. Rip-and-replace carries the highest risk and the longest wait for results. We integrate the floor with the systems you already run, so plans and actuals reconcile without a long migration before a single number moves.
Can you work with machines that have no PLC?
Usually, yes. Older equipment can often be instrumented through retrofit sensing: current clamps, proximity and vibration sensors, dry-contact signals from existing relays, or an output port that was always there. “It cannot be connected” is usually a statement about a product line, not about physics.
We have already started and it stalled. Can you help?
That is a Transformation Health Check, and it is a common way relationships with us begin. We assess why the programme stalled, what of the existing investment is salvageable and what finishing it would take, including the possibility that the honest answer is to stop.
Do we need all five capabilities?
No. Each works as a standalone engagement. Most clients start with an audit and take the roadmap in phases; some come to us only for machine connectivity, or only to recover a stalled build.
Start with the audit, not the software.
A fixed-scope diagnosis of where your plant loses information, what it costs you and what to fix first. The roadmap is yours to keep, whoever builds it.