How long does a cement plant assessment take?

Scoping depends on the number of production areas and network closets, not on tonnage. A single integrated plant is typically scoped as one assessment with a defined SOW window; a multi-plant operation is sequenced plant by plant so the first topology of record exists before the second begins.

Do we need a shutdown window?

No. The assessment is designed for a running plant. If a planned kiln outage happens to fall inside the window, it is used for physical verification in areas that are otherwise hard to reach, but it is not a prerequisite.

What do we get at the end?

An OT asset inventory with lifecycle status, network topology diagrams by production area, a segmentation evidence report mapped to the Purdue Model, and a security-level capability matrix against ISA/IEC 62443, delivered to a named owner on your team.

Cement plant with silos, conveyors, and mixer trucks

Industries / Cement / Topology Assessment

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.

Scope an assessment All cement OT services About the Topology Assessment

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.

01Switch 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.
02Legacy 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.
03Performed 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.

: Scoping depends on the number of production areas and network closets, not on tonnage. A single integrated plant is typically scoped as one assessment with a defined SOW window; a multi-plant operation is sequenced plant by plant so the first topology of record exists before the second begins.
: No. The assessment is designed for a running plant. If a planned kiln outage happens to fall inside the window, it is used for physical verification in areas that are otherwise hard to reach, but it is not a prerequisite.
: An OT asset inventory with lifecycle status, network topology diagrams by production area, a segmentation evidence report mapped to the Purdue Model, and a security-level capability matrix against ISA/IEC 62443, delivered to a named owner on your 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