Security, Compliance and Secure AI Deployment
Manufacturing runs on uptime and trust. Production must keep moving, intellectual property must stay protected, and the people responsible for compliance can answer a prime's or auditor's questions with confidence.
Manufacturers come to Centaris to gain confidence, engaging us to roll out AI deliberately, factoring in the compliance requirements that come with it, and putting controls in place to manage shadow and rogue AI before it reaches your IP. We deliver industrial-aware security, managed IT that ensures uptime, secure AI adoption, Microsoft 365/Copilot readiness, and compliance evidence that can stand up to customer and auditor review.
Compliance isn't a fire drill, and security isn't a one-time purchase. We keep both current as your environment changes, with your people involved at every step.
The Pressures on Manufacturing IT Right Now
Most manufacturers are managing several changes at once. Centaris helps you move with all of them without slowing production.
AI has added new security concerns.
80% of leaders now cite the leakage of sensitive data as their top concern — they're unsure of how to deploy AI securely, prevent unauthorized AI use, and prevent data leaks.
IT and OT are converging.
PLCs, SCADA, and MES now connect to your IT infrastructure to optimize operations, adding capability and expanding the attack surface at the same time.
OT has become a target.
Ransomware and attacks aimed at operational technology have surged, and the systems that keep the line running were rarely designed for modern threats.
Downtime is expensive.
When production stops, the cost is immediate and measurable. Uptime and fast recovery aren't IT preferences anymore — they're business requirements.
Compliance demands are rising.
CMMC for the defense supply chain, TISAX for automotive suppliers, and frameworks like NIST 800-171 and ISO 27001 are increasingly tied to whether you keep — or win — contracts. Most manufacturers face them with aging infrastructure and limited internal IT.
Handled well, none of this has to slow production. It just takes a partner fluent in both the network and the plant floor.
What We Solve for Manufacturers
Reduce risk across connected IT and plant-floor systems
Your shop floor and back office are connected, so your security must treat them as a single system. Centaris helps segment and protect the systems that connect plant operations with the rest of the business, including identity, endpoints, remote access, ERP/MES dependencies, backups, and monitoring.
Protect uptime and recover fast
Resilience is the goal, not just prevention. We combine 24×7 monitoring and rapid incident response with immutable backups and tested disaster recovery, so a ransomware event or outage becomes a controlled recovery instead of a production crisis.
Put the right security controls in place
Strong manufacturing security comes down to a layered set of controls working together:
Prepare for CMMC and TISAX with less operational disruption
We match the right controls and evidence to the framework that applies to you — CMMC for defense work, TISAX for automotive suppliers — and those same controls keep AI tools from exposing CUI. The goal is audit-ready compliance that fits how the plant actually operates, not security added at the expense of throughput.
Close the IT skills gap with a local managed partner
Technology is advancing faster than most manufacturers can staff to keep up. As a Michigan-based managed IT provider, Centaris gives multi-site operations direct access to security, infrastructure, and Microsoft expertise, protecting ERP/MES systems and scaling support across locations. However you want to engage, from fully managed to co-managed alongside your internal team, the model adapts to you.
A Defensible Path to Sustained Readiness
CMMC and TISAX require proof that holds up over time. As contracts renew, customers raise their expectations, and your environment changes. Centaris works through each stage of that effort with you, whatever framework is driving it:
Classify & Scope
Determine what data you handle (FCI vs. CUI, or your TISAX protection needs) and define a scope that's realistic and defensible. This decision drives the level of effort.
Assess
Identify gaps across both technical controls and the processes behind them — IT and OT alike.
Remediate
Implement safeguards and close the highest-risk gaps first, through controlled changes that don't disrupt operations.
Operationalize
Stand up the evidence, runbooks, monitoring, documentation, and review cadence that prove controls are working, not just installed.
Sustain
Maintain readiness over time through managed services and recurring review, so you're prepared for audits, renewals, and customer questions whenever they come.
This way, when proof is required — a renewal, an audit, a new contract — it's already in place and holds up to scrutiny.
What Sets Us Apart for Manufacturing
A few things matter more in a plant environment than anywhere else:
Security-first, operationally practical.
Controls have to fit the shop floor. We prioritize uptime, safety, and workable workflows, not security that grinds production to a halt. We have the resources and talent to help you stay on top of the emergence of AI and protect your business with consistent and secure deployments.
You get access to real security expertise, not just a ticket queue.
Our cybersecurity team works alongside your account, service, and compliance resources so recommendations are informed by how your environment actually operates.
We lead and orchestrate specialists so you're not managing complexity.
Centaris owns the technical and operational work and coordinates the right outside expertise for assessment prep, governance, or specialized enclaves when a CMMC or TISAX engagement calls for it.
We work in the frameworks that manufacturers are increasingly measured against.
NIST 800-171, ISO 27001, CMMC, and TISAX aren't occasional projects for us — they're the standard our manufacturing clients hold contracts against, grounded in Microsoft security, identity, endpoint, backup, documentation, and operating practices that can be maintained after the initial project.
We're clear about what we don't do.
We help prepare the environment, documentation, evidence, and operating model. Accredited assessors perform the formal assessment, and we do not overscope an environment just to appear thorough.
Industry Impacts
Manufacturing represented more than two-thirds of industrial ransomware victims in 2025. In OT environments, ransomware remained undetected for an average of 42 days. Segmentation, visibility, tested backups, and recovery planning help limit how far an incident can spread and how long it can disrupt operations.
Exploited vulnerabilities were the initial access path in 38% of manufacturing breaches. Only 26% of critical known-exploited vulnerabilities were fully remediated, with a median resolution time of 43 days. Proactive monitoring, patch prioritization, and clear ownership help close the gap.
CMMC Level 2 requires evidence across 110 NIST SP 800-171 security requirements. Readiness is not simply purchasing MFA, EDR, or compliance tools. It requires a defensible scope, implemented controls, documentation, ongoing review, and an operating model that can support annual affirmation and recurring assessment.
When a Previous Provider Came Up Short
We hear a familiar story from many new manufacturing clients: a prior MSP bought tools but couldn't prove the controls worked, overscoped the environment until it disrupted production, or waved off shop-floor systems as "out of scope" with no defensible reason.
CMMC and TISAX shift risk, but they don't outsource it, and the contractor still owns the outcome. What Centaris keeps in one place is accountability — defensible scope, evidence you can stand behind, and honest boundaries about who does what.
Heard from the Manufacturing People We Serve
By working with Centaris to address our company data leakage concerns from AI use, we have also leveled up our security to meet current compliance standards.
Downtime isn't an option. Centaris understood that from day one. They segmented our OT network, put tested recovery in place, and learned how our plants run so if something comes up, the line keeps moving.
Start With Understanding
A no-obligation assessment gives leadership clarity on what's exposed across IT and OT, what's managed, and what a realistic, defensible path to CMMC or TISAX readiness looks like — before a contract or audit forces the timeline.
No pressure. No obligation. Just a clear picture of where you stand.
Schedule a Manufacturing Security Assessment