What challenges did A global technology company face before AI implementation?

Manual, paper-based shop floor management processes lacked real-time insights and data analysis capabilities. This caused inefficiencies, lack of quick issue response, production waste, and downtime. Customer aimed to improve productivity, reduce downtime, and enhance product quality across multiple factories starting with a flagship factory project.

Source

MicrosoftProductionEvidence: Low40/100

Smart Factory Transformation with Microsoft Azure IoT at a Global Technology Manufacturer

Use case typeIndustrial inspectionUpdated Jun 13, 2026

A global technology company supplying systems for passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and industrial technology transformed their paper-based shop floor management processes with Microsoft Azure IoT solutions. Microsoft implemented a layered Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solution across the factory floor and cloud to collect, enrich, and analyze machine telemetry data. The system included OPC-UA gateways, Azure IoT Hub, Azure SQL Database, Azure Data Explorer, Azure Event Hub, Azure Stream Analytics, and Azure Monitor with Application Insights. The solution automated manufacturing monitoring, improved traceability, reduced downtime, and enabled data-driven operational insights across over 100 factories. The digital transformation improved productivity, production quality, and operational efficiency.

Organization: A global technology company
Industry: Manufacturing
Location: United States
Published: November 2021

Why do we believe this deployment?Customer identity, provider attribution, maturity, and source checks

Customer: A global technology company
Provider: Microsoft
Maturity: Production
Linked source: Microsoft DevBlogs

The solution automated manufacturing monitoring, improved traceability, reduced downtime, and enabled data-driven operational insights across over 100 factories

Customer identity supportedSource describes one deploymentMaturity supported

Primary read

Use case focus

Showing 3 of 3

1Industrial IoT
2Factory Automation
3Digital Transformation

Microsoft developed an IIoT solution with edge and cloud components.
Edge modules collected OPC-UA and non-OPC-UA telemetry data via KepServerEx gateway and forwarded it to Azure IoT Hub.
Cloud services enriched, stored, and exposed data through APIs for monitoring and configuration.
The architecture used Azure SQL Database for asset registry, Azure Data Explorer for telemetry analytics, Azure Event Hub and Stream Analytics for real-time processing, and Azure Monitor with Application Insights for observability.
The design included automated device onboarding, configuration management, version control, and secure communication.
Robust observability and alerting ensured system health and operational continuity.

Technologies

Azure IoT Hub Azure SQL Database Azure Data Explorer Azure Event Hub Azure Stream Analytics KepServerEx OPC-UA protocols Azure Monitor with Application Insights

Empowered developers with observability tools and data-driven insights to maintain and optimize factory operations.

Architecture

The IIoT solution consists of an edge component collecting telemetry data from OPC-UA and non-OPC-UA devices via KepServerEx gateway, forwarding to Azure IoT Hub. Cloud components include an asset registry in Azure SQL Database, data enrichment pipelines in Azure Data Explorer, real-time processing with Azure Event Hub and Stream Analytics, and observability using Azure Monitor with Application Insights. Automated device onboarding, secure communications, and versioned APIs support scalability and reliability.

Sources & evidence1

Evidence: Low40/100Evidence strength