A German automotive manufacturer with 37,000 employees and 3 production sites used to stop the line for up to three hours every time it needed a configuration update. Each update cost between €280,000 and €1,700,000. The risk was so high that updates only happened twice a year, during production holidays. Today, the same manufacturer deploys updates twice daily with zero downtime.
A Problem Most Manufacturers Know Too Well
If you run a production facility, the scenario is probably familiar. You need to update a configuration, fix a known issue, or roll out an improvement, but the update process itself requires stopping production. So the change waits. It waits until the next production holiday, or until enough changes have accumulated to justify the downtime cost. By the time the update finally goes live, it has grown into a large deployment with many variables that requires time-consuming testing to avoid serious errors and subsequent costs.
That was exactly the situation at this manufacturer. With update costs reaching up to €1,700,000 and each deployment requiring up to three hours of stopped production, only two updates per year were carried out in order to save costs. New features, improvements, and bug fixes could only be introduced late, and the company was losing valuable innovation potential as a result.
What Changed
The manufacturer found a way to decouple configuration updates from production downtime entirely. Instead of large, infrequent deployments that required stopping the line, the company moved to small, regular configuration updates that can be rolled out individually, without affecting the entire production system. The approach is based on the principles of continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), applied to the manufacturing environment through what the company calls Industrial DevOps.
The case study below details the full technical architecture behind this transition, including the specific protocols, infrastructure choices, and deployment methodology that made it possible across three production sites. It also covers how the company connects and manages thousands of industrial assets under a single technical-neutral data infrastructure.
Results
Since making the transition, the manufacturer deploys configuration updates twice daily without stopping production. More than 30 use cases have been realized across all three factory sites, and operational and development teams are no longer tied to rigid deployment schedules, allowing them the flexibility to innovate and implement improvements. The company, which operates the world’s first fully cloud-based manufacturing system, can now quickly adapt to market needs while elevating product quality and customer satisfaction.
| Before | After | |
| Update frequency | 2 per year (production holidays only) | 2 per day |
| Downtime per update | Up to 3 hours | Zero |
| Cost per update | €280,000 – €1,700,000 | No production stoppage required |
| Deployment size | Large batch (accumulated changes) | Small, individual updates |
| Use cases realized | Limited by deployment schedule | 30+ across 3 factory sites |
What You Will Find in the Full Case Study
- The cost and downtime breakdown that made the old update model unsustainable
- The full technical architecture, including protocols, cloud integration, and infrastructure choices
- How thousands of industrial assets are connected and managed under a technical-neutral data infrastructure
- The deployment methodology that allows daily configuration updates without risk during ongoing operations
- Measurable business results across three factory sites and 30+ realized use cases
Whether you are managing production systems, leading factory digitalization initiatives, or looking for a proven approach to reducing the cost and risk of production updates, this case study provides the technical detail and real-world results to inform your decisions.
Download the full case study below.
Sponsored by Cybus
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How much does stopping a production line for configuration updates cost?
At this German automotive manufacturer, each production line stoppage for a configuration update cost between €280,000 and €1,700,000, with up to three hours of downtime per update. These costs limited the company to just two updates per year, carried out during production holidays.
2. What is Industrial DevOps in manufacturing?
Industrial DevOps applies the principles of continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) to manufacturing environments. Instead of large, infrequent deployments that require stopping production, it enables small, individual configuration updates that can be rolled out without affecting the production system.
3. How can manufacturers deploy updates without stopping production?
By decoupling configuration updates from the production line, manufacturers can roll out small changes individually rather than accumulating them into large batch deployments. This manufacturer moved from 2 updates per year to 2 per day across 3 factory sites with zero downtime, realizing more than 30 use cases in the process.
