Fonterra improves manufacturing resilience through edge-to-cloud analytics
Fonterra, in collaboration with Rockwell Automation and Microsoft, modernized its manufacturing operations by integrating IT and OT data systems using edge-to-cloud digital solutions. The approach leverages cloud-native frameworks on Microsoft Azure and FactoryTalk InnovationSuite to unify operational data from sensors, equipment, and plants. Edge AI models train and process data locally, with insights securely transmitted to Azure cloud for enterprise-scale analytics and reporting. This allows Fonterra to monitor and analyze equipment and site-level data across multiple plants, driving operational efficiency, productivity, and secure, real-time decision-making on a company-wide scale. The platform's security is strengthened by Zero Trust principles, ensuring data confidentiality and integrity throughout the workflows.
- Organization
- Fonterra
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Location
- New Zealand
- Published
- February 2023
Reported outcomes
Strategic outcomes
Primary read
Use case focus
Showing 3 of 3
- 1Edge-to-Cloud OT/IT Data Integration for Manufacturing
- 2AI-Powered Operational Analytics and Reporting
- 3Company-wide Secure Plant Monitoring Platform
- Difficulty in integrating IT and OT systems in manufacturing plants.
- Limited scalability and manageability of existing digital solutions.
- Lack of real-time analytics across sites and plants hampered productivity.
- Data security risks with operational systems.
- Joint deployment of edge-to-cloud frameworks using Microsoft Azure.
- Adoption of FactoryTalk InnovationSuite for comprehensive analytics and management.
- Implementation of cloud-native management tools for unified IT/OT integration.
- Application of Zero Trust cybersecurity principles for operational data.
- Enabled secure, actionable monitoring of equipment and sites across 10 plants.
- Improved company-wide productivity and process resilience.
- Instant insights delivered for real-time decision-making at scale.
Architecture
Data from plant equipment and sensors is aggregated by Rockwell Automation's OT technology and integrated with IT systems. Data is analyzed on the edge for low latency and securely sent to Azure cloud, where FactoryTalk InnovationSuite and Azure AI services perform real-time analytics and reporting. Cloud-to-edge native tools support unified deployment, management, and security using Zero Trust models.
Implementation partners1
Sources & evidence1
The same organization appears in newer AI deployment evidence.
- Same organization re-documented as recently as 2025.
Measures whether this deployment's public evidence persists — not whether the system is still in production.
AI-generated summary. Verify important details with the linked sources before relying on this case.
Explore related AI use cases
Was this useful?