Production data exists in every factory. Whether the people who need it can access it, at the right time, in the right form, is a different question. In many manufacturing plants across Germany, Thailand, and Southeast Asia, the answer is still no. PLCs log events into SCADA systems. SCADA systems display what is happening on the line. But nothing upstream in SAP or Infor knows that a production order completed, a batch failed quality inspection, or inventory moved between storage locations. The finance team closes the month with numbers that arrived days late. The production manager holds a shift report that does not match the ERP's goods receipts.

This is an integration architecture problem. The OT layer and the IT layer were built by different teams, at different times, with different assumptions about what needed to connect to what. Gradion closes this gap systematically, building the protocol bridges, data normalization logic, and ERP integration patterns that turn shopfloor event streams into business-grade data.

What we deliver

OT/IT Protocol Translation

Equipment on the shopfloor communicates via protocols designed for machine-level reliability: Modbus, Profibus, OPC-DA, and in older installations, proprietary vendor formats. Modern integration architectures require OPC-UA or MQTT to carry that data into the IT layer in a standardized, queryable form. Gradion builds the protocol bridge: deploying OPC-UA servers on SCADA systems that do not natively support the standard, configuring MQTT brokers that aggregate machine telemetry into structured topics, and implementing edge computing layers where latency or connectivity constraints make cloud-first collection impractical. The output is a normalized data stream that the integration layer above it can consume without knowledge of the underlying equipment protocols.

Data Normalization

A production event from a CNC machine, a packaging line, and an injection molding press carry different data structures and represent different semantics even when they describe the same class of event. Before this data becomes a goods receipt in SAP or a production order confirmation in Infor, it needs normalization into a common semantic model. Gradion designs the normalization layer between raw equipment data and the integration layer, defining the event taxonomy, mapping equipment-specific fields to the canonical data model, handling unit of measure conversion, and validating completeness before any record is forwarded upstream. The model is documented and version-controlled, which matters when equipment is replaced and mappings need to change.

ERP Integration Design

SAP, Infor CloudSuite Industrial, and Microsoft Dynamics each have distinct integration patterns for manufacturing operations. SAP uses IDocs and BAPIs for production order management and goods movements. Infor CloudSuite exposes REST APIs and uses an ION integration bus for event-based communication. Each platform has its own data model for production orders, quality notifications, and inventory postings, and integration logic must respect those models to avoid downstream reconciliation failures.

Gradion is a certified Infor partner with completed manufacturing implementations including Senior Aerospace Thailand and an industrial foam manufacturer, the first Infor CSI ERP deployment in Vietnam. That certification means integration patterns Gradion builds conform to Infor's published standards, reducing version incompatibility risk and simplifying ongoing support.

MES as the Translation Layer

In facilities with complex production sequences, a Manufacturing Execution System provides the appropriate staging layer between shopfloor event streams and ERP business objects. The MES aggregates machine-level events into production order context, tracks work in progress across operations, and manages quality checkpoints before reporting completion to the ERP. Gradion scopes MES integration as part of the broader shopfloor-to-ERP architecture. Where an MES already exists, the work is integration design. Where it does not, Gradion advises whether a full MES is warranted or whether lighter integration middleware can perform the same function for the facility's actual production complexity.

Latency Architecture

Not all shopfloor data has the same time requirements. A quality control result that should stop a production line needs to reach the MES within seconds. A goods movement confirmation that triggers a financial posting can arrive in SAP within minutes without operational consequence. Designing a single architecture that treats all data with the same latency requirement wastes infrastructure and adds complexity. Gradion architects data flow by latency class: real-time for quality triggers and machine alarms via event streaming, near-real-time for production order completions through integration middleware, and batch-tolerant for shift summaries and inventory reconciliation on scheduled transfers.

Proof in production

Senior Aerospace Thailand (SAT), producing precision components for aerospace, defense, and industrial OEMs, had implemented Infor Syteline ERP but could not make it work. Production data lived in spreadsheets. Departments operated in silos. Production efficiency tracked at 55% against a 95% target. Gradion delivered automation solutions, factory software ecosystem integration, and data management infrastructure that closed the gap between shopfloor reality and what the ERP recorded. SAT's Supply Chain Director, Soonthorn Tharnpipitchai: "Their work with Infor CloudSuite Industrial has streamlined our operations and improved efficiency."

A leading industrial safety technology group engaged Gradion during a digitization initiative to align technical and business requirements across engineering and business teams, a prerequisite for any integration architecture that must outlast the initial implementation team.

CTA

Describe the production systems in scope and where the data flow breaks down: which protocols the equipment uses, which ERP the business runs, and what is currently missing in between. Gradion will scope the integration architecture.