Beyond Break-Fix: Building a Manufacturing & Construction IT Practice That Clients Value (and That Won’t Burn Out Your Team)

by | Jun 3, 2025 | Newsletter | 0 comments

I remember the exact moment I realized most IT providers were getting it all wrong with manufacturing clients.
I was sitting in a conference room with Mark, an operations director at a metal fabrication company outside Cleveland. His face was flushed as he pushed a stack of invoices across the table toward the account manager from his IT provider.
“Do you know what these are?” he asked quietly. “These are bills for 127 hours of service last month. And do you know what we got for those hours? We got back to where we were before your ‘upgrade’ took down our production line for three days.”
The account manager started explaining their hourly structure and how complex the systems were, but Mark just shook his head.
“You don’t get it. I don’t care about your hours. I care that we lost $42,000 in production time, and then paid you another $15,000 to fix what wasn’t broken in the first place.”
I wasn’t supposed to be in that meeting. I was just the writer documenting customer stories for the IT company’s website. But that moment changed the trajectory of my career, because I realized there was a massive disconnect between how IT practices were being managed and what manufacturing and construction clients actually needed.
After fifteen years of working with MSPs serving industrial clients, I’ve seen the same patterns repeat over and over again. The good news? There’s a better way to build and manage a practice that serves these clients exceptionally well – without burning out your team or sacrificing your margins.
The Hidden Challenges Only Manufacturing Practice Managers Understand
If you’re responsible for an IT team serving industrial clients, you’ve probably had nights where you stared at the ceiling wondering if it’s all worth it. Because let’s be honest – these clients come with challenges that your peers managing financial or professional services accounts simply don’t face:
When “Down” Means Dollars – Serious Dollars
When an accounting firm’s server goes down, people grumble and may need to extend their workday. When a manufacturing client’s production system fails, the losses stack up in thousands of dollars per hour – sometimes tens of thousands. And guess who becomes the face of that financial pain? You and your team.
I’ll never forget Ryan, a practice manager in Cincinnati, telling me about the $300,000 production loss one of his manufacturing clients experienced during a particularly difficult system failure. “The CEO actually calculated the exact cost while standing over my engineer’s shoulder. ‘$5,127 down… $5,128 down…’ It was excruciating.”
Finding Unicorn Technicians (Or Building Them)
“I need someone who understands VLANs, SQL databases, AND how to troubleshoot a ControlLogix PLC that’s dropping its Ethernet/IP connection.”
Sound familiar? Finding technicians who can bridge the IT/OT divide is like hunting unicorns. You end up with brilliant IT folks who are lost on the shop floor, or manufacturing technology specialists who don’t understand security fundamentals.
As Diane, a practice manager for a large Midwest MSP, told me: “I have engineers with 15 certifications who freeze up the first time they hear an air compressor kick on in a plant. All that Cisco knowledge doesn’t help when you’re trying to figure out why a barcode scanner suddenly won’t talk to a manufacturing execution system.”
The Never-Ending Workday
Manufacturing doesn’t stop at 5pm. Construction sites often start before dawn. Second and third shifts mean issues can crop up any time, and many of these clients simply can’t wait until morning.
This creates a brutal scheduling challenge: How do you provide responsive service without burning out your team? How do you maintain work-life balance when clients legitimately need help at all hours?
One practice manager confessed to me, “I lost three of my best engineers in six months because they couldn’t handle the constant on-call stress. They took jobs supporting insurance companies for less money because they wanted their lives back.”
The Margin Squeeze
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: profitability.
Manufacturing and construction support is often more complex, requires more specialized knowledge, demands faster response, and involves more after-hours work than typical business clients. Yet many MSPs try to force these square-peg clients into their round-hole service model and pricing structure.
The result? Eroding margins, scope creep, and a relationship that gradually becomes unsustainable for both parties.
Building a Practice That Works: The Human Elements Behind the Strategy
Over the years, I’ve worked with dozens of practice managers who’ve transformed struggling manufacturing and construction IT services into thriving specialty practices. The strategies they’ve used go beyond technical approaches – they involve fundamental shifts in how the practice is structured, how the team is developed, and how value is communicated.
Let me share what actually works, based on real MSPs who’ve made this transition successfully.
1. Reimagine What “Service Levels” Actually Mean
The emotional reality: Your standard service levels were designed for office environments where “high priority” means “the CEO can’t get email on his phone.” They simply don’t reflect the business reality of a stopped production line or a construction site that can’t access critical blueprints.
Tom runs the manufacturing practice for an MSP in Pittsburgh. After losing two major clients in a year, he realized their service level definitions were the core problem.
“We were hitting our SLAs 97% of the time according to our metrics, but our clients were still frustrated,” he told me. “Then I realized – our SLAs were measuring the wrong things. We were tracking time-to-response, not time-to-production-restoration. We were focused on our process instead of their outcome.”
The human-centered solution: Create manufacturing-specific service classifications that recognize the difference between technical severity and business impact.
How to make it work for your team:
  • Create a “Production Critical” classification that bypasses normal triage processes
  • Train your helpdesk to ask impact-focused questions: “Is this affecting production right now? Which production lines or processes are impacted?”
  • Develop specific playbooks for common manufacturing scenarios so less experienced team members can take effective initial actions
  • Track and report on “time to production restoration” separately from standard resolution metrics
  • Create a visual dashboard of production system status visible to your entire team
  • Establish direct escalation paths to your most experienced engineers for production-critical issues
After implementing these changes, Tom’s team saw client satisfaction scores increase from 7.2 to 9.1 in just six months, while their retention rate for manufacturing clients hit 100% for the first time ever.
2. Build Bridges Across the IT/OT Divide
The emotional reality: The specialized knowledge required for manufacturing environments creates anxiety for IT professionals used to controlled office settings. Your team members may feel out of their depth, leading them to avoid or delay addressing unfamiliar systems – exactly the opposite of what these clients need.
Sarah, a practice manager for an MSP in Cleveland, discovered this was happening with her team through an anonymous survey: “Our engineers were terrified of looking incompetent, so they’d focus on the parts of the client’s environment they understood well while finding reasons to delay addressing the manufacturing systems. One actually admitted he’d tell clients ‘we need to research this further’ when what he really meant was ‘I have no idea how this works and I’m scared to touch it.'”
The human-centered solution: Build specialized manufacturing support pods with cross-trained technicians who feel confident addressing the entire technology stack.
How to make it work for your team:
  • Identify manufacturing champions within your team who have interest or aptitude
  • Create a structured knowledge transfer program between your most manufacturing-savvy engineers and others
  • Develop relationships with OT system integrators who can provide specialized training
  • Implement job shadowing between IT staff and client production personnel to build mutual understanding
  • Build a “Manufacturing Systems 101” training program covering PLCs, HMIs, SCADA, MES, and how they interact with traditional IT
  • Create client-specific “technology maps” showing the intersection points between IT and OT systems
  • Celebrate and reward knowledge expansion with certification programs or specialization bonuses
Sarah’s approach transformed her team’s confidence: “We created a 12-week ‘Manufacturing Technology Bootcamp’ and saw a complete attitude shift. Engineers who once avoided manufacturing tickets began actively requesting them. Our first-call resolution rate for manufacturing issues improved by 62%.”
3. Transform Your Client Onboarding from Generic to Specialized
The emotional reality: Generic IT onboarding processes miss critical aspects of manufacturing and construction environments, creating a shaky foundation that haunts both you and your clients for the entire relationship.
Mike, who manages a construction technology practice, learned this lesson the hard way: “We onboarded a commercial builder the same way we did all our other clients. Six weeks later, we had a complete disaster when they couldn’t access critical project files from a job site during a concrete pour that couldn’t be rescheduled. We hadn’t even documented their mobile access requirements, let alone tested them. That mistake cost them over $80,000 and nearly cost us the account.”
The human-centered solution: Create an industry-specific onboarding methodology that captures the unique aspects of manufacturing and construction environments.
How to make it work for your team:
  • Develop a “Production System Mapping” process that documents all OT/IT intersections
  • Create a “Construction Site Technology Survey” for multi-site clients
  • Implement “Process Criticality Assessment” to identify what systems truly matter
  • Document shift schedules and production calendars to understand support timing sensitivities
  • Establish baseline performance metrics for all production-related systems
  • Create site-specific network diagrams showing both IT and OT components
  • Photograph and document physical equipment locations throughout facilities
  • Identify and document all third-party vendor relationships for specialized equipment
  • Schedule “day in the life” shadowing with key personnel to understand workflows
After his painful learning experience, Mike completely rebuilt his onboarding process:
“Now we have a construction-specific onboarding checklist with 127 items, including site visits to every active project. It takes longer upfront, but we haven’t had a single ‘surprise’ issue during the first 90 days with our last eight new clients.”
4. Align Your Economic Model with the Value You Actually Deliver
The emotional reality: Traditional hourly billing or basic managed services pricing creates fundamental misalignment with manufacturing clients. They measure value in terms of production uptime and business impact; you measure it in hours worked or devices supported.
Jennifer manages the manufacturing vertical for an MSP in Toledo. She recognized this disconnect when analyzing client satisfaction scores:
“Our least profitable manufacturing clients were also our most satisfied, while the ones generating the most revenue were the most unhappy. It made no sense until we realized what was happening – we were making money when things broke, and our most profitable clients were the ones experiencing the most problems.”
The human-centered solution: Implement value-based pricing that reflects the true business impact of your services, rewarding you for uptime and performance rather than break-fix activity.
How to make it work for your team:
  • Calculate the actual cost of downtime for each manufacturing client
  • Create tiered service offerings with production-specific SLAs
  • Implement “Production Uptime Guarantee” programs with premium pricing
  • Develop outcome-based agreements rather than activity-based contracts
  • Create specialized add-on packages for manufacturing-specific services
  • Consider shared-risk models where you pay penalties for extended downtime
  • Build in quarterly business reviews that focus on business impact, not just technical metrics
Jennifer’s team completely restructured their agreements:
“We moved to an uptime-based model where we get paid more when production systems stay running smoothly. Our incentives finally aligned with our clients’ needs. Average revenue per manufacturing client increased 37%, while our labor costs actually decreased by 18% because we’re preventing issues rather than responding to them.”
5. Speak Your Clients’ Language in Reporting and Communication
The emotional reality: Traditional IT metrics and reports focus on technology statistics that manufacturing leaders don’t care about, creating a perception gap where you think you’re demonstrating value but your client sees meaningless numbers.
David, a practice manager specializing in manufacturing clients, shared an eye-opening moment:
“I was proudly presenting our quarterly report showing 99.7% server uptime and 247 patches successfully applied. The operations director interrupted me and said, ‘That’s great, but our production efficiency dropped 7% last quarter. Are you helping with that or not?’ I realized we were having completely different conversations.”
The human-centered solution: Develop reporting frameworks that directly connect your activities to production and business metrics your clients actually care about.
How to make it work for your team:
  • Implement production uptime tracking correlated with IT systems
  • Create “downtime prevented” calculations for proactive interventions
  • Develop quarterly business impact reports focused on production metrics
  • Establish benchmarking across similar clients (anonymized)
  • Create executive summaries focused on business outcomes, not tickets resolved
  • Track and report on cost savings and efficiency improvements
  • Use the client’s own KPIs as your success metrics whenever possible
David’s team completely rebuilt their client reporting:
“We now start every report with three metrics the client’s leadership actually tracks: production efficiency, on-time delivery percentage, and quality metrics. Then we show how our services positively impacted those numbers. One client’s CEO actually said, ‘This is the first IT report I’ve ever read completely.’ That’s when I knew we were on the right track.”
The Human Cost of Getting This Wrong
Before I share a real-world transformation example, let’s talk about what happens when manufacturing practice management goes wrong. Because the stakes aren’t just financial – they’re deeply human.
I spoke with Jason, who used to manage a manufacturing practice for an MSP before the stress landed him in the hospital with severe anxiety attacks:
“We were trying to support manufacturing clients with the same model we used for everyone else. My team was constantly putting out fires, working nights and weekends, getting yelled at when production went down. Turnover hit 40% in one year. I was losing weight, couldn’t sleep, and finally collapsed during a client meeting. That’s when I realized something had to change.”
This isn’t uncommon. The practice managers I work with consistently report that manufacturing and construction clients create the highest stress levels and burnout rates when not properly structured. The human cost includes:
  • Engineers leaving for less demanding positions
  • Deteriorating client relationships despite working harder
  • Practice managers suffering from stress-related health issues
  • Family strain from constant after-hours support requirements
  • Decreased job satisfaction despite high technical challenge
The good news? It doesn’t have to be this way.
Real-World Example: Transforming a Struggling Manufacturing Practice
Let me tell you about Rachel, who took over a failing manufacturing practice at an MSP in Northeast Ohio. The practice was losing money, clients were leaving, and the team was on the verge of revolt.
“When I started, we had 17 manufacturing clients, but we’d lost 3 in the previous six months. The team was averaging 23 hours of overtime per engineer per week. Our client satisfaction score was 5.9 out of 10, and our profit margin was negative 12%. The CEO had given me six months to turn it around or he was going to exit the manufacturing vertical entirely.”
Rachel implemented the exact strategies I’ve outlined above over a six-month period:
Month 1: She conducted a complete assessment, analyzing client profitability, service patterns, team capabilities, and client satisfaction. She identified that 80% of their service hours were being consumed by just 30% of their clients.
Month 2: She restructured service levels, creating a “Production Critical” classification with different workflows and escalation paths. She also began building client-specific runbooks for common manufacturing issues.
Month 3: Rachel implemented a new team structure, creating a dedicated manufacturing pod with their most experienced engineers and implementing a knowledge transfer program to expand capabilities across the team.
Month 4: She rolled out new reporting focused on production impact and business outcomes rather than technical metrics, and began quarterly business reviews with key clients.
Month 5: Rachel restructured their agreements with the most problematic clients, implementing value-based pricing tied to production uptime rather than hourly billing.
Month 6: She launched a manufacturing-specific client onboarding process, including production system mapping and criticality assessment.
The results after six months:
  • Average ticket resolution time: Decreased from 27 hours to 12 hours
  • Engineer overtime: Reduced from 23 hours weekly to 8 hours
  • Engineer utilization: Decreased from 85%+ to 72% (sustainable level)
  • Client satisfaction: Improved from 5.9/10 to 8.9/10
  • Client retention: Achieved 100% (no clients lost during transformation)
  • Profit margin: Improved from -12% to +38%
  • Team turnover: Dropped from 40% to 0% during the period
Rachel’s approach wasn’t revolutionary – it was about recognizing that manufacturing environments require fundamentally different practice management strategies.
“The biggest change was shifting our mindset from ‘How do we handle all these difficult manufacturing tickets?’ to ‘How do we become true partners in our clients’ production success?’ Once we made that mental shift, everything else followed.”
Building Your Practice Transformation Roadmap
If Rachel’s story resonates with you, here’s how to start your own practice transformation. I’ve broken this down into manageable phases based on what I’ve seen work for dozens of practice managers:
Phase 1: Honest Assessment (Weeks 1–4)
Start by gathering data to understand your current reality:
  • Service delivery analysis: Review tickets from manufacturing clients for the past 90 days. Categorize by type, resolution time, and impact on production.
  • Client profitability analysis: Calculate the true profitability of each manufacturing client, including all labor costs (especially after-hours work).
  • Team capabilities assessment: Survey your technical team on their confidence level with various manufacturing technologies and systems.
  • Client satisfaction audit: Have direct conversations with key manufacturing clients about their actual pain points and satisfaction levels.
  • Workload and stress evaluation: Honestly assess team burnout indicators, including overtime, after-hours work, and recent turnover.
Phase 2: Foundation Building (Months 2–3)
With your assessment complete, begin building the foundation for your transformed practice:
  • Redefine service levels: Create manufacturing-specific service classifications and workflows.
  • Develop initial runbooks: Create documentation for the 5–10 most common manufacturing-specific issues.
  • Restructure your team: Identify and empower manufacturing specialists within your organization.
  • Begin knowledge transfer: Start cross-training programs to expand manufacturing capabilities across more team members.
  • Create client technology maps: Document the critical systems and their intersections for your top manufacturing clients.
Phase 3: Relationship Transformation (Months 4–5)
Shift the way you engage with your manufacturing clients by focusing on strategic, business-aligned relationships:
  • Implement business-impact reporting: Replace technical metrics with reporting that demonstrates your effect on production outcomes.
  • Conduct executive business reviews (QBRs): Schedule structured conversations that focus on business value, not just IT performance.
  • Restructure agreements: Transition legacy or misaligned clients to service models tied to production continuity and uptime.
  • Launch proactive support programs: Implement preventative maintenance protocols tailored to manufacturing environments.
  • Establish industry-specific security standards: Build cybersecurity strategies that align with operational technology (OT) realities.
Phase 4: Optimization and Growth (Months 6+)
With your foundational transformation complete, focus on scale, refinement, and strategic growth:
  • Expand your runbook library: Continue documenting repeatable solutions for common manufacturing issues.
  • Launch a certification program: Formalize internal training on manufacturing systems and technologies.
  • Initiate targeted marketing: Build outreach campaigns focused on your unique capabilities in manufacturing IT.
  • Document and publish client success stories: Showcase measurable business outcomes achieved through your services.
  • Build a continuing education program: Keep your team current with manufacturing technologies, protocols, and emerging trends.
The Practice Manager’s Immediate Action Plan
Feeling overwhelmed by the scope of change? Here are five actions you can take this week to start driving momentum:
  1. Calculate the cost of downtime for your top three manufacturing clients. Ask directly: “What does one hour of lost production cost your business?”
  2. Survey your technical team anonymously. Find out which manufacturing systems cause the most stress or confusion.
  3. Analyze after-hours support trends. Identify which clients or issues are triggering late-night emergencies—and look for patterns to address proactively.
  4. Schedule a plant floor walk-through. Let a key client show you how production really works, and where IT has the biggest impact.
  5. Identify your internal manufacturing champion. Find the engineer or team member best suited to own and grow this specialization.
The Emotional Rewards of Getting This Right
Transforming your manufacturing practice isn’t just about margin and metrics—it’s about creating healthier, more rewarding work for your team and more impactful relationships with your clients.
As Rachel said after turning around her MSP’s manufacturing division:
“The most surprising change wasn’t financial. It was how different our team felt about coming to work. These used to be the clients we dreaded. Now, they’re the ones our engineers fight to support. We had a client bring in cookies to thank us for eliminating unplanned downtime—first time in five years.”
That’s the true benchmark of success in manufacturing IT: when your clients value the partnership and your team finds meaning in the work.
Your Free Manufacturing & Construction IT Practice Reports
If you’re leading IT initiatives in manufacturing or construction, these free reports offers in-depth insights and actionable strategies tailored to the unique challenges of these industries.
Inside, you’ll find:
  • Industry-specific IT service benchmarks and KPIs
  • Guidance on calculating the true cost of downtime
  • Best practices for aligning IT services with production goals
  • Tips for improving client relationships through business-focused reporting
  • Frameworks for building preventative maintenance and security programs
  • Strategies for managing technician workloads and reducing burnout
  • Recommendations for structuring contracts and pricing based on value
These reports are designed to help you assess your current practice, identify opportunities for growth, and position your team as a trusted partner in your clients’ production success.
[Download Your Free Report Now]
Building a successful manufacturing and construction IT practice requires a tailored approach—different from standard MSP models. But with the right insights, you can transform challenges into opportunities for growth and deeper client partnerships.
What questions or challenges are you facing in this space? Share them below, and I’ll provide personalized guidance based on proven strategies from other MSP leaders.
You’re not alone in this journey—let’s build a stronger, more rewarding manufacturing practice together.