Two manufacturing professionals, a man with glasses and a woman, collaboratively review production data on a laptop. The woman points at the screen, indicating a focus on MES or APS solutions for manufacturing efficiency.

What digital manufacturing consultancy covers

Digital manufacturing consultancy is the work that connects your production operations to digital systems - MES, APS, system integration, and manufacturing intelligence. These are the systems behind Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing: the layer that turns a shop floor into one that reports its own data in real time and runs on it. A good consultancy understands how your production environment actually works, designs the right solution for it, handles the integration into your existing ERP and equipment, and stays through deployment until the results show up on the floor. The recommendation and the delivery come from the same hands.

Andea has delivered 810+ projects across 90+ manufacturers in nine industries. The work spans assessment, solution design, implementation, multi-site global rollouts, automation integration, manufacturing intelligence, and long-term maintenance. Most clients engage Andea from the first conversation through go-live. Some come in after an implementation has stalled or a previous provider has left gaps.

Why Andea is built differently from most consulting firms

Andea is a specialist digital manufacturing consultancy. Every consultant works only in manufacturing operations, and the team that builds your solution is the team that supports it.

Three structural differences set the practice apart from generalist consulting firms:  

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Manufacturing-only focus

Andea consultants do not rotate between banking, retail, and healthcare engagements. Every project, every industry, every year is manufacturing operations. Domain depth here comes from a staffing policy that keeps every consultant in manufacturing.  

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One team designs and builds

The consultants who design your solution configure it. There is no handoff from a strategy team to an implementation team, and no knowledge lost between phases. The person who mapped your production processes in week two is the person deploying the system months later.  

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The account stays with the people who know it

After go-live, the consultants who built your implementation handle support, optimization, and expansion. When something breaks at 11pm before a production run, the person who answers has been inside your system.  

Large consulting firms bring brand credibility and global scale. They also rotate teams across industries, sell at the partner level and deliver at the analyst level, and hand over roadmaps that need a separate integrator to execute. Andea suits manufacturers who need a partner to deliver the work, through to a running system.  

Blue line art shows two simplified figures in suits facing each other. Above them, a speech bubble contains a line connecting a red 'X' symbol to a green checkmark, symbolizing assessment or decision-making in production.

Assessment

Andea runs a readiness assessment of your production environment, maps existing systems, and identifies gaps before you commit to scope or budget. The output is a digital transformation roadmap – what to do, in what order, and what it will take. If you need to build an internal business case first, the 📈 MES Value Discovery – Clear MES Roadmap | Andea service is structured for exactly that.

The assessment is priced in mandays against an agreed scope. It includes shopfloor walkthroughs, data audits, and stakeholder interviews across operations, IT, and leadership. Quick wins are identified and scoped as part of the output. For a contained scope, Andea also runs a proof of concept structured to take up to two weeks.

Blue icon of a lightbulb with a shield and checkmark overlay, symbolizing secure design or verified innovation in manufacturing. Associated with MES and APS solutions.

Solution design

Andea designs the solution configuration against your actual production processes. Every design is validated against operational requirements before configuration begins. Nothing is built against a generic template.

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Implementation

Andea manages the full implementation: configuration, system integration across ERP and shop-floor automation, testing against production scenarios, operator training, and go-live. The same consultants who designed the solution build it. Implementation runs 4–9 months for a single site.

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Global deployments

Andea manages multi-site rollouts across Europe, North America and South America. The deployment framework is built around a single validated template distributed to each new facility – site five gets the same playbook as site one. Multi-site programs run 1–2 years structured in phases.

Getting past the pilot

McKinsey found that only about 30% of manufacturing digital pilots reach scale across the organization; the rest stall in what it called pilot purgatory (McKinsey, Digital Manufacturing: escaping pilot purgatory). The failures are rarely technical. A pilot built only to prove the concept tends to skip what scaling actually requires: a governance model, a unified data architecture, and a change management plan for the second and third facility.

Andea designs for scale from the start. Pilot on one facility, validate against the baseline, then push the same solution to additional sites without rebuilding anything.

A hand interacts with a futuristic digital blueprint of an automated factory. The blueprint displays robotic arms, conveyor belts, and a forklift planning for efficient production.

Automation and machine integration

Andea builds the shop-floor connectivity that links your production systems to the equipment underneath. Machine data flows into the MES as real-time data, replacing end-of-shift manual entry. Integration covers both modern equipment and legacy machines running older protocols. The scope is defined during the assessment phase and built into the implementation plan from day one.

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Manufacturing intelligence

Andea builds the manufacturing analytics layer – KPI dashboards and reporting that connect production data to OEE, on-time delivery, WIP, throughput, and quality metrics, with real-time visibility for operations managers and plant directors. Each dashboard is configured against your real production KPIs and points at one thing: the operational efficiency gains that justify the program. The aim is to surface the handful of numbers that drive decisions, and leave the rest in the source system where it belongs.

A man in a white shirt and glasses uses a laptop displaying a manufacturing quality management dashboard with charts and data. Three monitors show production management software interfaces in the background.

Application maintenance

After go-live, Andea's maintenance team takes over L2 support, application development, and database administration. Andea maintains systems it built and systems built by other providers – the onboarding process is the same either way. More than half of Andea's active maintenance clients came from other providers. If a previous implementation was left incomplete or underdocumented, Andea starts with a system audit before taking on the support contract.

Why change management determines the outcome

Most digital manufacturing programs miss their ROI targets for an organizational reason: the workforce does not adopt the system. The technology runs as designed, and the benefit still fails to land.

The pattern repeats across projects. Operators fall back on manual workarounds because the system was built around IT requirements while the shopfloor works a different way. Managers stop opening dashboards because the metrics on screen have nothing to do with how their performance is measured. The data stays accurate, and the reports stay closed.

Andea builds change management into the engagement from the first week, woven through solution design from the start. In practice that means operations, IT, and leadership agree on target KPIs and process changes before anything is configured, and shopfloor operators take part in user acceptance testing and sign off on the workflows they will run before go-live. When operators help validate a system, they go on to use it.

It is also why Andea designs for phased expansion. A validated pilot on one site, with operators who trust the data and managers who rely on it, gives a plant director the strongest case to take to the board for funding sites two through five.

Ten industries, one consistent approach

Andea has delivered digital manufacturing projects across ten industries worldwide. To keep that list clear and comparable, we've organized it using the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®), the taxonomy built for exactly this kind of comparison. The methodology stays the same from one industry to the next. What changes is the configuration, the compliance requirements, and the KPIs that matter most.

How Virtual Builds Can Improve Manufacturing Engineering In Aerospace Defenseadobestock

1. Aerospace & Defense

GICS: Industrials – Capital Goods – Aerospace & Defense

Full traceability from raw material to finished part is non-negotiable, usually against AS9100 and NADCAP requirements. Serialized traceability, non-conformance handling, and electronic work instructions tied to revision-controlled engineering data sit at the center of the work.

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2. Automotive

GICS: Consumer Discretionary – Automobiles & Components

High-mix, high-volume production runs under IATF 16949. Finite-capacity scheduling and tight integration between the production system and assembly-line equipment drive the build, with OEE improvement and scrap reduction as the KPIs that matter most.

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3. Medical Devices

GICS: Health Care – Health Care Equipment & Services – Health Care Equipment & Supplies; sub-industry: Health Care Equipment

Regulated, validated environments governed by frameworks such as 21 CFR Part 11 leave no room for shortcuts. Electronic records and batch traceability are mandatory, and every system change carries a documentation burden.

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Row of prominent yellow industrial machines with extensive yellow piping in a clean, modern factory. These are likely part of a manufacturing execution system setup.

4. Industrial Machinery

GICS: Industrials – Capital Goods – Machinery; sub-industry: Industrial Machinery & Supplies & Components

Multi-level bills of material and frequent engineering changes shape the requirements. Integration with CAD and PLM systems keeps production data aligned with the latest design revision.

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Rows of clear plastic water bottles with bright blue caps line a production conveyor belt in a manufacturing facility. The background is blurred, highlighting the packaging and bottles, suggesting efficient production planning.

5. Packaging

GICS: Materials – Containers & Packaging

High SKU counts and frequent changeovers drive scheduling complexity across rigid containers and flexible packaging alike. Material traceability across substrates becomes the recurring technical demand.

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Automated robotic arms with blue and white casings in a high-tech manufacturing environment, suggesting advanced production and digital transformation.

6. High Tech

GICS: Information Technology – Technology Hardware & Equipment and Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment

Short product cycles and component-level genealogy define the floor, often against workmanship standards such as IPC-A-610. Frequent engineering changes keep CAD and PLM integration a constant requirement.

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7. Clean Energy

GICS: Industrials – Capital Goods – Electrical Equipment; sub-industry: Electrical Components & Equipment

Component and batch traceability across frequent design revisions sit at the center of the floor. Configuration management keeps pace with fast-moving component specifications.

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An engineer in a blue jumpsuit and hard hat studies a document while pressing a button on complex industrial electrical equipment. This visual represents manufacturing operations and digital transformation solutions.

8. Electrical Equipment Manufacturing

GICS: Industrials – Capital Goods – Electrical Equipment, spanning both the Electrical Components & Equipment and Heavy Electrical Equipment sub-industries

Unit-level traceability and documented routine testing are mandatory under standards such as IEC 61439 and UL 508A for switchgear, controlgear assemblies, and industrial control panels. Configurable, engineer-to-order bills of material and tight integration with engineering documentation drive the build.

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Automated production line of clear glass dropper bottles filled with golden cosmetic serum or oil in a clean, brightly lit manufacturing facility.

9. Cosmetics

GICS: Consumer Staples – Household & Personal Products – Personal Care Products

Batch and recipe management sit alongside allergen and ingredient traceability requirements under Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009. Every reformulation ripples through the bill of material.

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Rows of freshly baked jam tarts with bright red jam sit on a metal cooling rack. This visual represents efficient food production planning and execution.

10. Food & Confectionery

GICS: Consumer Staples – Food, Beverage & Tobacco – Food Products; sub-industry: Packaged Foods & Meats, since GICS has no dedicated confectionery category

Shelf-life traceability, allergen controls, and HACCP-based food safety programs dominate the use cases here.

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Andea configures the solution against these sector-specific requirements from the start. The work begins from your industry, with sector knowledge in the build from day one. 

What Magna and Autoliv say about working with Andea

Andea has delivered manufacturing systems work for two of the largest automotive suppliers in the world.  

Magna, the world's third-largest automotive supplier and the largest in North America, worked with Andea to improve the performance and reliability of an existing manufacturing system, including process optimization and configuration improvements.

Autoliv, the world's largest automotive safety supplier, brought Andea in to deliver a customized solution under tight timelines for a global test and prototype facility.

"Andea has a broad knowledge and experience with Apriso. With their help, we were able to increase the performance and reliability of our existing MES implementation and improve our business processes and efficiency. We consider Andea a very flexible and capable partner."

Kurt Siegl
VP Manufacturing Solutions, Magna
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"Andea was tasked with delivering a unique and highly customizable solution against very tight timelines. Because of their experience and dedication, we were able to deliver successfully. They are a trustworthy partner that Autoliv can safely recommend to others."  

Doug Stein
Director – Global Test and Prototype, Autoliv
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How to evaluate a digital manufacturing partner – and where Andea stands

The wrong choice produces strategy documents with no implementation path, or technology recommendations shaped by the consultant's vendor partnerships. A digital transformation that never improves operational efficiency is a common and expensive outcome. The criteria below are what Andea is evaluated against in every competitive selection.

What to look for
  • Manufacturing shopfloor experience – the team should have worked inside manufacturing environments, with hands on the actual systems
  • Full-lifecycle capability – assessment, deployment, and post-go-live support, with a partner who stays past the roadmap
  • Structured engagement methodology – a documented approach for assessment, solution design, and deployment phases
  • Industry vertical experience – sector-specific process knowledge matters, since automotive scheduling and pharmaceutical batch management are different problems with different rules
  • Change management capability – workforce adoption is where most programs fail; ask what their change management approach looks like in practice
  • Verifiable references – ask for case studies from comparable manufacturers with named outcomes
  • Transparent pricing – clarity on time-and-material vs. fixed-bid, and how scope changes are handled
Red flags
  • Recommends specific technology in the first meeting without running a structured assessment
  • Deliverables stop at presentation decks with no implementation pathway
  • No manufacturing operational experience on the core delivery team
  • ROI projections that match vendor benchmark claims exactly, with no documented methodology
  • No case studies from comparable manufacturers in your sector

How much does digital manufacturing consulting cost?

The cost follows the work. A package set before anyone has seen your floor can't tell you much. What moves the number is concrete: the count of production sites in scope, how many external systems the solution has to integrate with, and how much custom configuration your processes demand. A single-site assessment sits at one end. A multi-site program integrating ERP, automation, and custom configuration sits at the other.

The figure is set after an on-site assessment of your production environment. That assessment is also where the business case gets built, so you see the expected return before committing to the full program.

Two manufacturing professionals, a man with glasses and a woman, collaboratively review production data on a laptop. The woman points at the screen, indicating a focus on MES or APS solutions for manufacturing efficiency.

Digital Manufacturing Consultancy – frequently asked questions

The questions below cover the decisions manufacturers face most often when evaluating a digital manufacturing consultancy.  

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Andea credentials

  • Certified Dassault Systèmes Consulting & System Integrator and Value Added Reseller
  • SOC 2 Type II certified for data security and operational controls
  • 810+ completed projects across 280+ production sites in nine industries, since 2014
  • Offices in the United States, Poland, Germany, and Mexico
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Read more from Andea

Most MES projects that disappoint were set up to disappoint long before a vendor was chosen. See where the preparation usually breaks down:
🌟 MES Implementation Risks: Success Starts Before RFP

Aerospace lives and dies on traceability and audit-readiness. Here is how digital manufacturing plays out in that world, with real SNC and Bombardier examples:
Top aerospace manufacturing software solutions.

Building in a regulated, validated environment changes what your software has to prove. This is what medical device manufacturers need from an MES, and why:
Why MedTech companies need medical device manufacturing software

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Evaluating digital manufacturing for the first time, upgrading an implementation that has outgrown its original design, or switching from a provider who does not know the platform – book a short call with Andea.  

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