Empowering the Next Generation of Makers: Okta for Manufacturing
When you’re creating the world’s most innovative products, you’re constantly responding to consumer needs. The conventional methods, legacy IT, and on premises systems that many manufacturing companies still rely on aren’t enough to keep up with the rising complexity and demands of modern manufacturing. Whether you’re on your laptop in the office, or tablet on the factory floor, you need to be able to access important data from your partners, suppliers, and employees—no matter where in the world you happen to be.
This is where cloud platforms come in. With the right identity management solution, the manufacturing industry can harness the power of the cloud to enable large-scale operations, securely connect the supply chain to cloud and on-prem technologies, and respond swiftly to consumer needs. Here are two companies leading the way.
Flex: Connecting and securing the supply chain
Flex is a leading “sketch-to-scale” company providing connected Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. The global manufacturer works with brands—including multinational labels like Nike and Ford—to design, build, and manufacture connected objects that interact with humans and other objects in intelligent ways. The company has thousands of suppliers and more than 100 factories integrated in its supply chain.
“The churn in the supply base is continuous and pretty high,” says Flex CIO Gus Shahin. “It depends on what you’re building, when you’re building it, and where.” To address this churn, Flex built a portal consisting of 10 applications that suppliers can log into from any location to access their orders, verify supplies, and more.
The next step was streamlining security for the supplier portal, and Shahin selected Okta as his go-to solution. Okta helped Flex connect all applications in the portal and automate onboarding and offboarding. Today, Flex has enhanced control and visibility into its supplier network—and can oversee it from anywhere around the world.
Learn more about how Flex is building an intelligent, connected world.
Teknion: Modernizing IT through the cloud
Teknion is a global manufacturer of high-end office furniture. The organization’s IT infrastructure originally entailed logging into a VPN, which caused frustration and delays. The long, laborious administration process that comes with using outdated systems ultimately led the IT team to seek a cloud-based solution.
As a mid-cap company with a world-wide footprint, Teknion needed a way to continue servicing global customers quickly and efficiently in order to compete with multinationals with greater resources. Okta provided a simpler way for Teknion to modernize its IT: because Okta connects to both cloud or legacy on-prem systems, employees were able to use both. This automatic handshake between Okta, on-prem apps, and Active Directory made the experience seamless for end-users and employees alike: users no longer had to use VPN, and instead could use Okta’s Single Sign-On to access all systems. As Teknion CIO John Comacchio puts it: “They just love Single Sign-On, which seems to them to be a dream, so we support that.”
Find out how Okta helped Teknion apply feng shui to its IT.
The cloud is transforming every aspect of modern manufacturing. Whether it’s effectively scaling operations or revamping access to cumbersome systems, Okta’s solutions give manufacturing companies the flexibility and security they need at every stage of the supply chain.
