Plant-Side Technical Leader
Manufacturers bring us in when the project cannot afford to go wrong.
Joltek is independent consulting, execution leadership and systems integration for complex automation and modernization projects. Controls, SCADA, MES, OT networks and plant data. Paid by the plant, not the vendor.
- Ex-P&G
- Kraft Heinz
- Post Holdings
- North America
Years across plant floor operations, capital delivery and modernization
Site deployments delivered across North America
Disciplines held by one owner: controls, SCADA, MES and OT networks
Manufacturing leaders interviewed on the Manufacturing Hub podcast
Why this exists
Most failed modernization projects were not technical failures.
They were ownership failures. The scope was written by the party being paid to deliver it. The architecture suited the vendor's catalogue rather than the plant. Nobody asked whether maintenance could support it at two in the morning.
We sit on the manufacturer's side of that table. Not to replace the integrator, and not to second-guess the vendor, but to make sure the plant gets the outcome it is paying for and can still run it after everyone has gone home.
How we work
When manufacturers call
Three situations, and the first is the most valuable
The most useful moment to be involved is before anything has gone wrong, while the scope is still being written and the money has not yet been committed.
A project is being scoped
A significant automation or modernization initiative is being planned, and the technical ownership needs to be right from the start rather than after something goes wrong.
The team is overloaded
Internal engineering is stretched and needs senior technical ownership, not more hands.
Something is stuck
Recurring controls, networking, data or downtime problems that nobody has resolved permanently.
Services
Clarity, control, and capability that outlasts the project
Seven practice areas, from setting the strategy through to delivering the controls ourselves. Most engagements draw on more than one, because plant problems rarely respect the boundary between them.
Modernization Strategy
Digital Transformation Strategy
Define what to modernize, in what order, and who owns it.
Engineering and Integration
Systems Integration
Controls delivered and commissioned, with code the plant can still support.
Delivery Governance
Operations and Performance Improvement
Find the losses, fix the ones that pay, and make the gain stick.
Delivery Governance
IT/OT Architecture and Integration
Plant data that operations will actually trust and use.
Modernization Strategy
Systems Modernization and Risk Management
Migrate off obsolete platforms without inheriting a fragile system.
Workforce Development
Workforce Development and Education
Build internal capability so performance does not depend on heroics.
Modernization Strategy
Investor and Private Equity Support
Technical due diligence and post-close operational assessment.
The approach
Four steps, and we stay for all of them
The failure mode in this industry is advice that arrives as a document and leaves before implementation. We do not work that way.
Understand the situation
Before recommending anything, we establish what is actually happening: the constraints, the history, and what the plant needs to be true at the end.
Define what good looks like
A scope the plant can hold a vendor to, an architecture that suits the environment, and a definition of done that survives handoff.
Own it through execution
We stay through delivery, commissioning and handoff. The integrator supplies the hands. We protect the outcome.
Leave it supportable
Documentation, standards and the internal capability to run it. Running is not the same as supportable.
Independence
We are paid for the advice. Nothing we recommend pays us a second time.
The integrator sells the implementation. The vendor sells the licence. The distributor sells the hardware. Our fee is the same whether the answer is a new platform, keeping what you have, or doing nothing this year.
Vendor-independent, but not opinion-neutral. When one platform is genuinely better for your situation, we will say which and why.
Partners and disclosuresTechnologies
Across the stack, not just one layer of it
Organised by ISA-95, because that is the vocabulary the work uses. The most expensive mistakes come from solving a problem at the wrong level of the stack.
Level 1 to 2
Controls and machine systems
PLC, HMI, drives, safety and the standards that keep a fleet of machines maintainable.
The layer under everything
OT networks
Segmentation, addressing and the architecture decisions that quietly decide uptime.
Level 2 to 3
Plant data and MES
Getting trustworthy data off the floor, then making it mean something to operations.
Selected work
Anonymised, because the outcome matters more than the logo
Client names are withheld by default. What is published is the situation, the decision, and what changed.
Engineering Discipline Meets Operational Excellence: Expanding Capacity at P&G Auburn
This case study highlights how Procter and Gamble’s Auburn facility expanded capacity by integrating three globally built production lines. Through rigorous pre-build preparation, global FAT and VAT testing, disciplined commissioning, and the application of Integrated Work Systems, the project delivered the fastest line turnaround in site history while ensuring long-term reliability, compliance, and operational excellence.
Driving Efficiency with Technical Upgrades and Smart Investment
We helped a major manufacturer increase the speed of a high-volume production line by identifying bottlenecks in automation and processes. The project delivered a double-digit increase in throughput while maintaining quality and reducing downtime.
Securing Reliability and Compliance: Motion Platform Modernization in a Regulated Manufacturing Environment
Learn how Joltek modernized 120+ servo axes by migrating from Rockwell 1394 to Kinetix 6200, improving reliability, compliance, and ROI.
Answered before you ask
The four questions that come up in every first call
Asked honestly, so answered honestly.
You are a small firm.
We are not the labour, we are the ownership. The integrator supplies the hands. One senior owner across four disciplines replaces a coordination problem, not a headcount problem.
Why not just use our integrator?
Your integrator is good at what they are scoped to do. They are also the party defining the scope, grading their own work, and leaving after handoff. The question is who is protecting the plant’s definition of done.
We already have a vendor.
Keep them. The work is making sure their deliverable is the right one and that the plant can support it afterward.
How is this different from a contractor?
A contractor executes a scope you have already defined. We start one step earlier: working out whether the scope is right, then owning the outcome through execution and handoff.
Insights
Written for the engineering leader, not the search engine
Field notes on controls, networks, data and the reasons good projects fail.
PLC Platform Migration: A Plant Engineer's 2026 Guide
PLC platform migration planning for plant engineers: obsolescence signals, like-for-like vs re-architecture, code conversion, downtime, cost, and sequencing.
SLC 500 Migration: Three Paths from Obsolete to Modern
SLC 500 migration breaks down into three paths: 5/05 swap, 1747-AENTR conversion, and full CompactLogix or ControlLogix replacement.
TIA Portal Download and Install | Free PLC Programming using Siemens PLCs
Download and install Siemens TIA Portal V21 step by step - Free PLC Programming, including account setup, ISO downloads, mounting, file copying, and practical tips to avoid common installation issues.
Have a project that needs technical ownership?
Send us the situation. If it is not something we should take on, we will say so.