Industry Challenges: Manufacturing companies – whether in automotive, electronics, consumer goods, or other sectors – are increasingly dependent on technology as they adopt automation and Industry 4.0 practices. Factory floors now feature a convergence of operational technology (OT) – like industrial control systems (ICS), robotics, and IoT sensors – with traditional IT systems for planning and logistics. This convergence opens new vulnerabilities: cyberattacks that once only threatened data can now disrupt physical production lines. Ransomware and other cyber incidents targeting manufacturers have surged in recent years, with some high-profile breaches causing multi-million dollar losses due to halted production. Moreover, manufacturers need to maintain quality and throughput; any IT or OT downtime can result in missed delivery deadlines and costly idle time. There are also compliance and safety standards to consider: for example, defense or aerospace manufacturers may need to meet CMMC cybersecurity requirements to remain eligible as suppliers, or ISO 27001 for information security management. Manufacturers are also exploring predictive maintenance and IoT analytics to improve efficiency, which requires handling big data from machines securely and effectively. Finally, global manufacturers must coordinate across multiple sites and supply chain partners, necessitating robust, secure networks and data exchange to keep everything in sync.