When a Single Point of Failure Stopped a Manufacturing Company: The Case for Redundancy

At 6:25 AM on a Monday morning, the production floor at a mid-sized manufacturing company in Washington County was humming with activity. Assembly lines were moving, and employees would soon be preparing for a shift change. Then, without warning at 6:27am everything came to a grinding halt. The cause? A single internet connection went down and that loss of connectivity shut down the entire operation. The Comcast internet connection was down preventing manufacturing systems from accessing the internet.

The Problem: A Hidden Single Point of Failure

This manufacturing company relied on a cloud-based production management system to coordinate orders, track inventory, and ensure seamless communication between departments. The problem? They had only one internet service provider (ISP) with no backup connection. When their ISP experienced an unexpected outage, their systems became inaccessible, and production came to a complete stop without order data.

The Consequences of Downtime

Without access to the cloud-based system, workers could not receive new job instructions, machines couldn’t sync with the latest production data, and managers were left scrambling for a solution. The impact was immediate and severe:

• Production Halted: Over 100 employees stood idle as machines sat unused.
• Financial Losses: The company lost thousands of dollars per hour in lost productivity and delayed shipments.
• Customer Frustration: Orders were delayed, leading to missed deadlines and strained client relationships.

The Solution: Implementing Failover and Redundancy

After this costly outage, the company worked with us to implement redundancy measures, ensuring that a single failure would never cripple their operations again. Here’s what we changed:

1. Implemented a Failover Connection
   • We helped identity and setup a secondary ISP, ensuring continuous connectivity even if the primary provider went down.
   • This failover connection was configured at the SonicWall firewall to automatically switch over in case of an outage.
2. Added Load Balancing for Performance Optimization
   • The dual-WAN setup was configured for load balancing, meaning traffic was intelligently distributed across both ISPs.
   • This not only improved overall internet performance but also ensured that network resources were being used efficiently.
3. Adopted Local Backup Solutions
   • Critical production data was stored both in the cloud and on local servers, allowing operations to continue even if internet access was lost.
4. Developed a Business Continuity Plan
   • Employees were trained on backup procedures and alternative workflows in case of connectivity issues.
   • A response team was assigned to monitor and address IT failures before they caused major disruptions.

Failover Connection Explanation

• A firewall with dual-WAN capabilities allows two separate ISPs to connect to the network.
• When the primary ISP fails, the firewall detects the disruption and immediately switches traffic to the secondary ISP, preventing downtime.
• This transition happens automatically and often within seconds, ensuring seamless business operations.

The Operational Benefits of Redundancy

By eliminating their single point of failure, the company experienced:

• Improved Reliability: Production remained uninterrupted even during brief ISP outages.
• Enhanced Security: Secure, managed backup connections replaced risky mobile hotspots.
• Operational Resilience: A proactive response plan minimized downtime and financial losses.
• Increased Customer Trust: More reliable production schedules improved client relationships and satisfaction.

At Advanticom, we specialize in helping businesses prevent costly downtime by strengthening redundancy in our clients’ IT infrastructure. Eliminating single points of failure and providing failover solutions ensures redundancy planning provides business continuity enhancements. This company’s story serves as a powerful reminder: a single point of failure can lead to unnecessary financial and operational damage. Proactive redundancy planning ensures single points of failure are identified before they become an issue for your organization.