OT Topology Assessment for Cement Plants
A scoped, per-plant assessment that turns a cement plant's OT network into an inventory and topology of record, with lifecycle status on every switch, performed on a running plant.
What is specific to cement
The assessment follows the process, not the rack diagram.
A cement plant's OT network is organized the way the plant is: quarry and crushing, raw mill, kiln and cooler, finish mill, packing and dispatch. The assessment maps zones and conduits along those lines, because that is how outages propagate and how segmentation will eventually be enforced.
- Switch lifecycle census first
- In the 2025 report, 82% of 267 switches assessed across a multi-plant cement operation were End-of-Life or Discontinued. The census of manufacturer, model, firmware, and support status per switch is therefore the first deliverable, because it drives the modernization budget more than any vulnerability finding.
- Legacy fieldbus segments mapped, not ignored
- Profibus, DeviceNet, and serial segments still carry production traffic in most cement plants, often mid-migration to industrial Ethernet. The assessment documents where they are, what bridges them onto Ethernet, and which of those bridges are reachable from the office network.
- Performed while the kiln runs
- Kilns do not stop for an assessment. Discovery is passive at the switch mirror ports and configuration-based on the network gear, with active discovery reserved for equipment where it is known to be safe. No agents on controllers, nothing inline.
FAQ
Assessment questions from cement operators
Short answers. A scoped proposal covers the rest. Reach out to our team.
Get Started
Scope the first plant
Tell us how many production lines and network closets the plant has and whether any legacy fieldbus is still in service. We'll return a scoped assessment proposal.
What you'll get
- Switch lifecycle census with support status per device
- Topology diagrams by production area (quarry to dispatch)
- Legacy fieldbus and bridge inventory
- Segmentation evidence mapped to Purdue levels
Prefer email? helpdesk@potenzaservices.com