// HOW TO WORK WITH HILLPOINT //

SCADA, MES, and controls integration services.

Connect equipment to operator screens and business systems, modernize controls, or scope a specific improvement. Start with a free conversation. A paid architecture audit is available when the project needs deeper discovery.

Start with a 15-minute discussion of your project goals and delivery requirements.

CHOOSE YOUR PROJECT

Integration work with defined deliverables.

Additional scope can include PLC programming, control panel engineering, and emergency controls support.

// THE PATH //

From discovery to commissioning and support.

A defined project can move from discovery to a written scope. Use the architecture audit when requirements or dependencies need investigation; it is not mandatory for every job.

01
STEP 01 · THE ENTRY

The conversation and the floor walk

Free initial discussion · Floor walk by arrangement

The fastest way to find out if we can help is to get us on your floor. Fifteen minutes on the phone first, then an hour walking the line together. We want to see the panels, the network closet, and the spreadsheets your operators actually run beside the official HMI. You get a straight read on what we see, including the things that are fine.

Start with a virtual working session or a floor walk. We agree on site visits, travel, and scheduling before making arrangements.

02
OPTIONAL · ARCHITECTURE ASSESSMENT

OT / AIT Architecture Audit

$4,500 · Two weeks · Fee credits toward follow-on work

When the walk surfaces real problems and you want the plan on paper, this is the plan. A fixed-fee engagement that produces a current-state architecture map, a gap analysis against a rate-production reference, and a prioritized roadmap you can execute. The fee credits toward any follow-on engineering work, so you're not paying twice.

WHAT YOU GET ON DAY 14
  • Two half-day working sessions with your team
  • Current-state OT architecture map (annotated)
  • Gap analysis against a high-rate production reference
  • Prioritized remediation roadmap with effort estimates
  • Walkthrough deck for your leadership team
03
STEP 03 · THE BUILD

Engineering SOWs

Phased · Fixed-fee · Scope agreed before work starts

Fixed-fee phases with agreed deliverables, acceptance checks, and a commissioning plan. The examples below apply to data architecture projects; each job is scoped to its requirements.

PHASE 1
Broker + Unified Namespace

MQTT broker stand-up, Sparkplug B topic structure, namespace design that survives scale.

PHASE 2
Historian + Database Layer

Time-series historian, relational system of record, query layer your team can use.

PHASE 3
ERP / MES / PLM Integration

Bidirectional flow between shop floor and business systems. Genealogy that closes.

Phase fees range $15K-$75K depending on scope and integration count. Fixed fee per phase. No scope-creep billing.

04
STEP 04 · THE ONGOING RELATIONSHIP

Recurring support

Monthly bucket · Defined scope · Billed in 4-hour blocks

After the first project ships, most clients keep a standing bucket of engineering hours. Every block goes against work scoped in writing: the next phase or the punch list. That keeps the architecture moving without a new procurement cycle every time something comes up.

// THE SIDE DOOR //

Running a plant with no controls engineer?

Controls Inventory & Backup Week

$6,500 · One week · Fixed fee

For manufacturers running aging PLCs with no controls engineer on staff. Two to four days on site: we pull a verified, dated backup of every PLC and HMI program in the plant, photograph and inventory every controller (including the ones buried in OEM skids), and confirm you can restore each system, software activations and comms hardware included. Then one day off site writing it up in plain language.

THE FOUR DELIVERABLES

Verified program backups. Every PLC and HMI, dated, with the dev software confirmed for each.

Asset inventory. Every controller, HMI, dev PC, and legacy network on the floor, photographed. Including the hidden ones.

Plain-language risk report. Findings a non-engineer can act on.

Proof to take upstairs. The report doubles as the document that justifies the migration budget to your management.

This work is important but never urgent, so it never gets done until the day a controller dies with no backup. A dead battery and one power cycle on a processor with no EEPROM copy is a rebuild, not a restore. The entry is the same as everything else here: a free one-hour floor walk, standing at your panels.

// COMMON QUESTIONS //

// NEXT STEP //

The first step costs you 15 minutes.

Share the current systems, desired outcome, and production constraints. We will help define a practical first scope.

A focused initial discussion to review scope and next steps.