November 06, 2025
If you're in the controller's chair at a manufacturing
firm, you've heard it all before: "Let's wait until after the quarter close,"
"We'll upgrade in the next budget year," or simply "It still works, so it can
wait."
But every quarter you delay upgrades or patching you are
carrying hidden risk. The risk shows up not just in stranded machines or broken
lines, it shows up in lost margins, late shipments, and the sleepless nights
that come when you're wondering if everything truly still works.
According to a recent blog from OpenText titled "Manufacturing
cost reduction 2025: Smart technology investments for budget‑conscious
operations," 83% of executives now rank supply‑chain resilience as equally
important as cybersecurity, and they found that the cost of inaction often
exceeds the investment in modern solutions within the first year.
One precision make order manufacturer's central Ohio division
delayed their server refresh and held off updating their UPS and network
switches until the next fiscal year. When their systems crashed before a major
bid opening, they had to submit a "partial" response, and they missed a large
contract worth over $1 million dollars. Their repair and downtime costs alone
reached nearly $115,000, and that didn't include the
lost margin.
Their CFO told me: "We thought we were saving money by
delaying. Instead, we spent almost as much in one afternoon as we would have in
a full year's planned upgrade."
"The best time to fix the foundation is when the house
still looks level." — Ginni Rometty, former CEO of IBM
Here are some warning signs that you might be overdue for
a refresh:
· Your
core server hardware is six or more years old and still under heavy load.
· Critical
vendor portals or supplier links are running on outdated firmware or
unsupported OS versions.
· Your
upgrade budget shows as "deferred" for two or more cycles in a row.
· You're
still using shared admin credentials or don't know when last your backup system
was validated.
· Your
internal ticket count is rising even though headcount has not.
And here are questions you should bring to the table this
week:
· What
will it cost us in lost orders or expedited shipping if our system fails in the
next 90 days?
· If
production stood still for one full shift because of IT failure, what would our
cost be?
· Which
systems are at end‑of‑life and what is our plan to replace them?
· Are
we making the difference between "can still run" and "can run well"?
In a fast‑moving manufacturing world, waiting one more
quarter might feel okay today, but it might cost you next week. Good tech isn't
the flashy upgrade, it's the quiet partner that keeps your plant moving while
the headlines stay calm, your team stays confident, and your board never asks,
"Why weren't you ready?"
Interested in a conversation or want to learn more? Contact us here.
