Integration Meets Reality

Industrial Edge, AI in manufacturing, and connected production systems have effectively blurred the technical line between IT and OT. Nevertheless, many companies continue to operate with clearly defined responsibilities, separate budgets, and different target systems. Integration is happening, but not as the norm—rather, as the exception.

At the same time, the pressure is mounting significantly. This is because industrial AI requires consistent data structures, seamless information flows, and real-time access to production data. This is precisely where many existing architectures fall short. Especially in brownfield environments, modern platform approaches encounter legacy plant structures, proprietary systems, and processes optimized over decades. Integration must therefore work in live production environments.

In Germany in particular, this discrepancy is exacerbated by highly rigid organizational structures. Every IT/OT initiative quickly turns into a coordination and approval process. Regulatory requirements such as NIS2 are necessary and appropriate, but in practice they often lead to additional documentation, new roles, and extended decision-making processes. This creates a structural contradiction: technological development is already converging, but the organization is not keeping pace. Instead of integrated architectures, we end up with a landscape of interfaces. Instead of platform models, we end up with committee structures. Instead of clear responsibilities, we end up with controlled complexity.

The core problem lies less in the technology itself than in the underlying system logic. IT optimizes scalability, standardization, and data flows. OT optimizes operational stability, availability, and security. Without a deliberate architectural decision, they become a constant source of tension. Added to this is the shortage of skilled workers who understand both worlds equally well. OT meets IT is therefore no longer a technology project, but a structural decision-making problem. Those who continue to think in separate silos optimize individual areas but prevent a consistent overall architecture. This is where the future viability of industrial production is actually decided.