Enterprise Flexibility: How Manufacturing Organizations Can Adapt to Market Demands, Regulations, and Growth
Author Sticky
Michelle Rosinski
GE Vernova’s Proficy Software & Services
Mar 26, 2025
3 minutes
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Enterprise Scale and Flexibility
In today’s rapidly evolving manufacturing landscape, manufacturing enterprises must balance standardization with adaptability to remain competitive. Enterprise Scale solutions enable manufacturing organizations to modernize faster, improve enterprise-wide performance, and reduce operational costs in demanding industrial markets.
Enterprise Scale relies on four core capabilities: Scalability, Flexibility, Standardization, and Integration. This blog focuses on Enterprise Flexibility – ensuring companies across all types of manufacturing can respond swiftly to production changes, regulatory shifts, and emerging business needs – all while minimizing disruptions to operations.
Enterprise Scale relies on four core capabilities: Scalability, Flexibility, Standardization, and Integration. This blog focuses on Enterprise Flexibility – ensuring companies across all types of manufacturing can respond swiftly to production changes, regulatory shifts, and emerging business needs – all while minimizing disruptions to operations.
Image credit: GE Vernova
Why Enterprise Flexibility Matters for Manufacturing Operations, Engineering, and IT Leaders
IT Leaders need systems that support diverse deployment models—on-premises, cloud, or edge—to ensure secure, scalable, and efficient deployment of industrial applications, data management, and real-time analytics across distributed manufacturing environments.
For Operations Leaders, flexibility means being able to meet production demands efficiently, whether by adding new product lines, adjusting workflows, or maintaining consistency across multiple sites.
Engineering Leaders need adaptable solutions that integrate and optimize diverse manufacturing operations while ensuring quality, efficiency, and compliance. These solutions must support real-time adjustments, streamlined system connectivity, and continuous improvement.
For Operations Leaders, flexibility means being able to meet production demands efficiently, whether by adding new product lines, adjusting workflows, or maintaining consistency across multiple sites.
Engineering Leaders need adaptable solutions that integrate and optimize diverse manufacturing operations while ensuring quality, efficiency, and compliance. These solutions must support real-time adjustments, streamlined system connectivity, and continuous improvement.
What are the Common Challenges in Achieving Manufacturing Enterprise Flexibility?
Without Enterprise Flexibility, businesses struggle with production bottlenecks, costly system workarounds, and delayed responses to market and regulatory changes—leading to higher costs and operational disruptions. Below, we explore the core challenges manufacturing organizations encounter when striving for enterprise flexibility and the benefits of addressing them.
Challenge #1: Managing Diverse Manufacturing Types in a Unified System
Many enterprises run a mix of manufacturing operations – each with unique process requirements – but often rely on separate systems that create data silos, increase maintenance overhead, and drive up operational costs.
Challenge #1: Managing Diverse Manufacturing Types in a Unified System
Many enterprises run a mix of manufacturing operations – each with unique process requirements – but often rely on separate systems that create data silos, increase maintenance overhead, and drive up operational costs.
IT Leaders struggle with disconnected systems that create data silos, making it difficult to gain real-time visibility and ensure seamless data flow across manufacturing operations. Integrating diverse equipment, production lines, and software platforms is often complex and time-consuming, leading to inefficiencies, security risks, and costly manual workarounds.
Operations Leaders face inefficiencies and delays when managing separate solutions for different production methods, leading to inconsistent workflows, resource misallocation, and excessive downtime. Rigid systems make it difficult to adjust production processes to meet demand fluctuations, forcing teams to rely on workarounds that slow operations and increase costs.
Engineering Leaders are often constrained by rigid manufacturing systems that complicate process modifications, equipment integration, and quality control. Making even small adjustments—such as reconfiguring workflows, updating production parameters, or incorporating new technologies—can require extensive manual effort, custom coding, or disruptive system changes, slowing innovation and operational agility.
Without a cohesive system, businesses face data fragmentation, higher maintenance costs, and operational bottlenecks. A flexible manufacturing solution enables enterprises to unify operations, standardize key processes, and still accommodate site-specific needs—improving agility, reducing downtime, and lowering total cost of ownership.
Image credit: GE Vernova
Challenge #2: Adapting to Shifting Production Demands and Regulations
Market demands, new product introductions, and evolving regulations require manufacturing systems to be highly adaptable. However, many manufacturing enterprises rely on rigid, outdated systems that weren’t designed for frequent changes, making it difficult to implement updates without delays, disruptions, or costly workarounds.
Market demands, new product introductions, and evolving regulations require manufacturing systems to be highly adaptable. However, many manufacturing enterprises rely on rigid, outdated systems that weren’t designed for frequent changes, making it difficult to implement updates without delays, disruptions, or costly workarounds.
IT Leaders struggle with infrastructure that lacks agility, making it difficult to support frequent changes without risking security vulnerabilities or operational slowdowns. Legacy systems and rigid architectures often require extensive manual intervention for updates, increasing downtime and the risk of misconfigurations.
Operations Leaders face pressure to quickly adapt production workflows to meet shifting customer demands, regulatory updates, and supply chain disruptions. However, many manufacturing systems are rigid and require extensive rework to implement even minor changes, leading to inefficiencies, wasted materials, and production delays.
Engineering Leaders must continuously optimize processes while dealing with complex and outdated systems that make modifications time-consuming and error-prone. Adjusting production parameters, integrating new equipment, or implementing process improvements often requires custom coding, lengthy validation, or manual workarounds—leading to delays and increased costs.
A flexible system empowers businesses to quickly respond to market shifts, new product demands, and regulatory changes without disruption. By enabling rapid updates, remote configuration, and automated scheduling, companies can minimize downtime, reduce compliance risks, and maintain a competitive edge.
Challenge #3: Maintaining Workflow Consistency Across Multiple Manufacturing Plants
Large enterprises often struggle to standardize workflows across multiple sites while allowing for necessary plant-level customization. Without a balance between standardization and flexibility, inefficiencies arise.
Challenge #3: Maintaining Workflow Consistency Across Multiple Manufacturing Plants
Large enterprises often struggle to standardize workflows across multiple sites while allowing for necessary plant-level customization. Without a balance between standardization and flexibility, inefficiencies arise.
IT Leaders struggle with managing multiple plants that operate on fragmented systems, leading to inconsistent data, disconnected processes, and security vulnerabilities. Without a centralized yet adaptable system, they face challenges in maintaining standardized configurations, enforcing cybersecurity policies, and ensuring seamless data exchange across sites, often resulting in costly inefficiencies and integration headaches.
Operations Leaders struggle with inconsistent workflows across plants, making it hard to maintain quality, optimize resources, and scale efficiently. Without standardization, sharing best practices and applying enterprise-wide improvements becomes difficult, leading to wasted effort, higher costs, and production slowdowns.
Engineering Leaders must balance the need for standardized workflows with site-specific requirements, but rigid systems often force a one-size-fits-all approach that limits flexibility. This creates challenges in adapting processes to local regulations, equipment differences, and unique production demands while ensuring overall system performance and efficiency.
Standardizing workflows while allowing local customization improves efficiency, lowers operational costs, and streamlines cross-plant coordination. A well-structured system ensures consistency in quality and performance while giving plants the flexibility to adapt to local requirements, enabling faster decision-making and enterprise-wide optimization.
Challenge #4: Scaling Manufacturing Operations in Response to Market or Regulatory Changes
Organizations must scale manufacturing operations quickly to seize new opportunities or meet regulatory requirements, but many rely on rigid systems that weren’t designed for rapid change. As a result, they face delays, costly reconfigurations, and compliance challenges—making it difficult to expand production, introduce new products, or adapt to evolving industry standards.
Challenge #4: Scaling Manufacturing Operations in Response to Market or Regulatory Changes
Organizations must scale manufacturing operations quickly to seize new opportunities or meet regulatory requirements, but many rely on rigid systems that weren’t designed for rapid change. As a result, they face delays, costly reconfigurations, and compliance challenges—making it difficult to expand production, introduce new products, or adapt to evolving industry standards.
IT Leaders struggle to scale infrastructure efficiently without disrupting system stability or performance. Many legacy systems lack the flexibility to accommodate growth, forcing IT teams to implement costly workarounds, navigate complex integrations, or risk downtime when scaling operations.
Operations Leaders face challenges in expanding production capacity while ensuring consistency and quality across facilities. Scaling often requires reconfiguring workflows, training staff, and integrating new equipment—processes that can introduce inefficiencies, increase error rates, and create bottlenecks if not properly managed.
Engineering Leaders must navigate complex regulatory changes and evolving industry standards, but rigid systems make compliance adjustments slow and costly. Implementing new reporting requirements, adjusting process controls, or adapting to changing safety regulations often requires extensive rework, manual updates, or system customizations—leading to higher costs and potential compliance risks.
A scalable and flexible system allows businesses to quickly adapt to market shifts, regulatory changes, and growth opportunities without disruption. By integrating adaptable software, companies can streamline compliance, expand production efficiently, and maintain a competitive edge.
Case Study on Pfizer Newbridge: Achieving Operational Agility in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
To enhance efficiency and capacity, Pfizer Newbridge transitioned from islands of automation to an integrated automation strategy with Proficy software from GE Vernova. By investing in strong controller and SCADA standards, they built a foundation for greater flexibility and agility across their facilities.
The Challenge:
To create a more flexible and scalable operation, Pfizer Newbridge needed to overcome several key obstacles:
The Challenge:
To create a more flexible and scalable operation, Pfizer Newbridge needed to overcome several key obstacles:
- Disparate automation systems limiting flexibility and efficiency
- High effort required for recipe changes and maintenance
- Lengthy validation and commissioning processes
The Outcome:
Pfizer Newbridge achieved significant improvements in efficiency, scalability, and operational agility including:
Pfizer Newbridge achieved significant improvements in efficiency, scalability, and operational agility including:
- 80% additional capacity, enabling scalable operations
- 25% reduction in the FAT-IQ stage of the project lifecycle
- Centralized, class-based recipe management, reducing paperwork and improving repeatability
- Faster commissioning with “Plug and Play” flexibility, allowing seamless integration of new equipment
By implementing a low-level customization approach to drive high-level flexibility, Pfizer Newbridge has created a scalable, flexible automation environment that supports long-term growth and operational efficiency.
Read the full case study on how Pfizer Newbridge improves efficiency and capacity with integrated Proficy automation software now.
Read the full case study on how Pfizer Newbridge improves efficiency and capacity with integrated Proficy automation software now.
How Proficy Software & Solutions Enable Manufacturing Enterprise Flexibility
In today’s rapidly evolving manufacturing landscape, flexibility is key to maintaining efficiency, reducing downtime, and adapting to market and regulatory changes. Below, we explore how our Proficy software suite empowers IT, Operations, Engineering Leaders to modify workflows, introduce new products, and ensure consistency across sites.
Proficy Manufacturing Execution System (MES)
Proficy Manufacturing Execution System (MES) provides the agility manufacturers need to adapt to changing production demands, support multiple manufacturing types, and maintain efficiency across all sites.
Proficy Manufacturing Execution System (MES)
Proficy Manufacturing Execution System (MES) provides the agility manufacturers need to adapt to changing production demands, support multiple manufacturing types, and maintain efficiency across all sites.
- Seamless manufacturing integration: Supports batch, discrete, and process manufacturing in a unified system.
- Accelerated new product introduction: Prebuilt templates help streamline implementation across different production types, reducing setup time and costs.
- Optimized production workflows: Engineered to standardize processes across multiple plants while enabling site-specific customization.
- Increased throughput and traceability: Captures quality data to help enhance operational performance and regulatory compliance.
Proficy HMI/SCADA
Proficy HMI/SCADA software, including CIMPLICITY and iFIX, provides manufacturers with the flexibility to respond swiftly to changing production requirements, regulatory updates, and operational shifts, driving streamlined adjustments to help reduce downtime.
Proficy HMI/SCADA software, including CIMPLICITY and iFIX, provides manufacturers with the flexibility to respond swiftly to changing production requirements, regulatory updates, and operational shifts, driving streamlined adjustments to help reduce downtime.
- Remote Configuration: Allows teams to adjust settings and workflows remotely with minimal downtime.
- Streamlined integration: Ensures smooth communication between SCADA, Batch, and Historian systems through OPC UA and MQTT v5.0 support, helping to create a more unified operation.
Proficy Historian
Proficy Historian software is engineered to provide manufacturers with the flexibility to capture, analyze, and adapt data collection to meet evolving industry needs and regulatory requirements.
Proficy Historian software is engineered to provide manufacturers with the flexibility to capture, analyze, and adapt data collection to meet evolving industry needs and regulatory requirements.
- Customizable data collection: Easily reconfigured to meet industry or market challenges, helping ensure that the data being gathered remains relevant to operations.
- Robust data aggregation: Supports millions of tags with efficient storage and retrieval of critical operational data.
- Hybrid cloud deployment: Supports streamlined integration with on-premises and cloud infrastructures for flexible scalability.
Proficy Scheduler / ROB-EX
ROB-EX Scheduler provides manufacturers with the flexibility to adapt manufacturing production schedules very quickly, supporting efficient resource utilization while helping to minimize downtime.
ROB-EX Scheduler provides manufacturers with the flexibility to adapt manufacturing production schedules very quickly, supporting efficient resource utilization while helping to minimize downtime.
- Optimized scheduling across diverse manufacturing types: Engineered for efficiency in batch, discrete, and process manufacturing without adding complexity.
- Quick-response adaptability: Dynamically updates production schedules based on real-world changes, ensuring that new product lines or regulatory adjustments are integrated efficiently.
- Consistent yet customizable workflows: Configurable templates help production scheduling to remain consistent across plants, reducing errors and operational discrepancies.
- Modular design for scalability: Supports rapid adjustments to production plans, helping businesses to scale operations to meet market demands.
Each of these solutions helps enterprises adapt to changing demands, maintain workflow consistency, and respond proactively to market shifts – all while minimizing disruptions and optimizing performance.
Future-Proof Your Manufacturing Enterprise with Flexible Operations
In a fast-changing industrial landscape, Enterprise Flexibility is essential for maintaining competitiveness. Integrating Proficy industrial Software & Solutions can help enterprises overcome operational challenges, adapt to changing demands, and scale effectively without compromising efficiency.
Want to learn more? Read our next blog on Centralized Standardization or contact us to see how Proficy Software can help your business thrive.
Want to learn more? Read our next blog on Centralized Standardization or contact us to see how Proficy Software can help your business thrive.
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