Capabilities
Five connected areas covering the full arc of a manufacturing transformation — from the first walk of the floor to the day the tenth plant goes live. Delivered by one team, so nothing is lost in a handoff.
What exactly does OrbitX do?
OrbitX is a manufacturing digital transformation partner that both advises and builds. We audit operations and design the roadmap; we digitize every function on the shop floor; we connect machines and integrate enterprise systems; we build custom software and applied AI where no product fits; and we stay through adoption, support and multi-site rollout. Delivery runs one of three ways — our own solution where it fits, a platform from the market where one fits better, or a bespoke build where nothing does. Which one you get is decided by your process.
Everything a factory operating system does — and the work a product alone cannot.
A digital factory operating system digitizes workflows, connects machines, automates escalations and reports. That is real and valuable, and we deliver all of it. But it is one layer of a transformation, and it is the only layer a product can be.
What we add around it
- Operations consulting before digitization — fixing the process first, so you don't automate a broken one
- Technology selection scored on your process — including the recommendation not to buy
- Custom engineering beyond any product's scope — planning tools, portals, bespoke analytics
- Enterprise integration across the whole estate, not one platform's connector list
- Adoption and change as a designed workstream, not a training week
- Recovery of stalled implementations — including ones we did not start
How the capability areas connect.
Sequenced the way a real program runs. Most clients start at C01 and move right — but each area is a standalone engagement if that is what you need.
Operations & Transformation Consulting
We find out what is actually wrong before anyone writes code. Operations and process audit, digital maturity assessment, costed transformation roadmap, technology selection scored on your process and build-versus-buy analysis.
- Operations and process audit
- OEE and loss analysis
- Digital maturity assessment
- Transformation roadmap and business case
- Software strategy and vendor evaluation
Shop Floor Digitization
The core build. Ten operating functions digitized into one connected layer with a single operational record underneath — whether that runs on a platform we implement for you or software we build.
- Production, OEE and downtime
- Quality, deviations and CAPA
- Maintenance and reliability
- Safety, permits and EHS
- Utilities, energy and ESG
Machine Connectivity & Integration
Getting data off the machines — including the old ones vendors say cannot be connected — and getting the floor talking to the systems the business already runs on.
- PLC, SCADA and OPC UA integration
- Edge gateways and retrofit sensing
- Protocol normalization
- ERP, MES and QMS integration
- Master data alignment
Applied AI, Data & Custom Software
For everything that does not come in a box. A unified data platform underneath, bespoke applications for your specific process, and models where the data genuinely supports them.
- Unified manufacturing data platform
- Bespoke operational applications
- Operator and supervisor interfaces
- Predictive maintenance and quality models
- Planning and scheduling tools
Adoption, Support & Scale
The part that decides whether any of the above was worth doing. Operator and supervisor training, daily management routine redesign, proof that the numbers moved, ongoing support, and the rollout playbook that gets you past the first plant.
Explore adoption and scale →How to start.
Five ways in, sized to where you are. Most relationships begin with one of the first two.
| Engagement | What it is | Duration | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technology Selection Fixed fee |
Structured evaluation of the platforms you are being sold, scored against your actual process rather than a demo script. Our own solution is scored on the same sheet as everything else, and named as ours — the fee does not change based on which option wins. | 1–2 weeks | You are mid-way through vendor conversations and cannot tell who is right. |
| Connected Floor Audit Start here |
On-site operations and data-flow mapping, system landscape review, quantified gap analysis, and a sequenced roadmap with build-versus-buy calls and costs. Yours to keep. | 2–4 weeks | You know something is wrong but not what to fix first. |
| Transformation Health Check Recovery |
Diagnostic on a stalled or underperforming program — why it stalled, what is salvageable, and what finishing it would actually take. | 1–2 weeks | You already spent the money and got a system nobody uses. |
| Line Pilot | One line, one plant, instrumented and digitized end to end, with a measured before and after. | 6–10 weeks | You need internal proof before committing to a full program. |
| Connected Floor Program | Full multi-function digitization across the plant, with connectivity, integration, adoption and support. | 4–12 months | The roadmap is agreed and you are ready to execute. |
A free assessment attracts tyre-kickers and signals that the thinking has no value. A fixed-fee audit qualifies honestly, establishes that the diagnosis is itself the product, and lets you experience the working relationship before committing to a build. The fee is the same whichever route the roadmap points to — our solution, someone else's platform, a bespoke build, or none of them. If you take the roadmap to another firm entirely, that is a legitimate outcome and it happens.
What people ask before the first call.
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 even the right answer, integrating across your whole estate rather than one product's connector list, and staying through adoption. Where a platform is the right answer, we implement it for you.
No. Rip-and-replace programs carry the highest risk and the longest payback in this market. We integrate the floor into the systems you already run, so plans and actuals reconcile without an eighteen-month migration before a single number moves.
Usually, yes. Older equipment can often be instrumented through retrofit sensing — current clamps, proximity and vibration sensors, dry-contact signals off existing relays, or an output port that was always there. "It cannot be connected" is usually a statement about a vendor's product line, not about physics.
That is a Transformation Health Check, and it is a common way relationships with us begin. We assess why the program stalled, what of the existing investment is salvageable, and what completing it would genuinely require — including the possibility that the honest answer is to stop.
No. Each area 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. The five areas describe what we can cover, not a package you have to buy.
Start with the audit, not the software.
A fixed-scope engagement. We walk your floor, map where data breaks down, and hand you a costed roadmap — whether or not you build any of it with us.