The Problem

In late 2023, Menzolit UK – a specialty chemicals manufacturer in Burnley producing high-performance resins and composite materials – lost their long-serving IT provider. When OneTek visited the site, the picture was familiar: daisy-chained switches, ageing cabling, quality data trapped in old Access databases, and enterprise systems running on archaic technologies. The factory was performing well, but the business was constrained by the administrative effort needed to keep everything running.

The bigger challenge was already on the horizon. In the second half of 2024, Menzolit migrated successfully from their legacy ERP to SAP. But the migration broke what little integration existed. Their old MES and quality systems could no longer communicate with the new ERP. Production data, recipes, and quality records lived in disconnected silos.

Menzolit didn't need an IT support replacement. They needed someone who could rebuild the foundation, then build something new on top of it.

The Solution

OneTek delivered the project in two phases.

Phase 1 – Infrastructure. During the annual two-week shutdown, the entire factory network was rebuilt:

• Fibre cabling installed throughout the factory to every machine cabinet and data entry point
• Production network properly separated from the corporate network, with segmentation and firewalls
• New switching infrastructure replacing the legacy daisy-chained setup
• Leased line and backup internet for reliable connectivity

This created a stable, high-performance backbone that everything else could be built on.

Phase 2 – A Bespoke MES. When the SAP migration broke Menzolit's old MES, OneTek developed a Manufacturing Execution System designed specifically around how Menzolit's factory actually works. Built by spending time on the production floor, understanding the process, and writing software that mirrors it – not an off-the-shelf product forced to fit.

The system connects every part of the production process:

• SAP integration – orders, bills of materials, and stock data flow in from SAP. Production confirmations flow back automatically. No manual re-keying.
• Siemens PLC integration – the production line communicates directly with the system in real time. The PLC queries which batch needs processing, what raw materials are required, and records actual weighed amounts as they happen.
• Factory scale integration – weights captured automatically across six production locations through industrial gateways. No manual data entry, no transcription errors.
• Operator interfaces – touchscreens at every production station guide operators through their tasks: what to weigh, how much, from which stock allocation. Data captured automatically as work happens.
• Live dashboards – real-time production visibility for management. For the first time, anyone could see what was happening on the factory floor without walking it.

The End Result

Toby Bulcock, Menzolit UK’s Financial Controller, on what changed:

"In a heartbeat, we can trace back any material that we've made to its original components and their testing criteria of the raw materials coming in. We have a full, nice flow to how things work."

– Toby Bulcock, Financial Controller, Menzolit UK

What started as an IT support replacement became a complete digital transformation of a manufacturing operation. The system delivered:

• Full material traceability – any batch, any raw material, any test result, in seconds
• Zero manual re-keying – data flows from SAP to the shop floor and back without human transcription
• Real-time production visibility – operators and managers see what's happening as it happens
• Six production stations connected – every weighing point, mixer, and production line on one system
• Zero disruption to production – infrastructure work completed during annual shutdown; the MES deployed incrementally alongside live operations

"It's so far away from what we could ever have imagined otherwise. It's gone above and beyond, and we see that as a true benefit."

– Toby Bulcock, Menzolit UK

The Future

"My dream would be to have the system allow us to create some predictive models for the outcomes based on the raw material testing criteria. Once you've got good data, you can start to make good decisions."

– Toby Bulcock, Menzolit UK

With clean, structured data now flowing from every part of the production process, the foundation is in place for predictive analytics – using historical batch data and raw material test results to predict product outcomes before production begins.

The foundation is built. The data is flowing. Now the real value starts.

"Everybody wants a Lamborghini. Sometimes you have to settle for the chassis. We're coming to the end of that development phase, and we're really starting to see the Lamborghini with the bells and whistles."

– Toby Bulcock, Menzolit UK

If your factory runs on a mix of old and new systems that don't talk to each other, if your quality data lives in spreadsheets or paper logbooks, if your ERP knows what was ordered but not what happened on the shop floor – you're where Menzolit was in 2023. The difference is, they did something about it.

Talk to us about manufacturing systems integration.