- 15 min
Mentis Africa, a long-established manufacturing leader in expanded metal, gratings, and engineered metal products, has spent decades operating in an environment familiar to many industrial plants: isolated machines, paper-based workflows, and a lack of reliable production visibility.
In 2022, that changed.
With a clear vision for automation, digitalisation, and the long-term move toward a Unified Namespace (UNS), Mentis partnered with Control Software Integration (CSI) to modernise their production environment. What followed was a structured, multi-phase digital transformation that replaced manual reporting, unified operations and IT, and delivered real-time production intelligence.
This is the story behind the project.
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From Hardwired Machines to a Digital Strategy
When Ernest Mukuwari joined Mentis as Automation and Maintenance Manager, his mandate was simple: automate the plant. But it quickly became clear that automation alone wouldn’t deliver the transparency or operational reliability the business needed.
Mentis needed more:
- Digitalisation, not just automation
- A move away from siloed systems
- Real-time operations data
- Integration between IT and OT
- A modern platform capable of supporting a unified, scalable future
After initial discussions with Element8, the vision crystallised: a lightweight, edge-driven architecture with open standards and exception-based reporting, built on Ignition, MQTT, and modern MES tools.
“Initially, we had virtually no automation,” Ernest recalls.
“Machines were hardwired. No feedback. No visibility. The question became: how do we collect information from this environment? That’s where the journey began.”
Phase 1: Standardising the Plant From the Ground Up
Before software could do anything meaningful, the physical environment had to be modernised.
The first significant challenge:
Twelve production lines, all supposedly “standard,” yet none of them actually were. Every control panel was different. Every PLC was wired differently. Operators relied on paper handovers and manually written hourly counts.
CSI’s team rebuilt the control layer, creating:
- Standardised PLC structures
- Unified documentation
- Consistent tag naming
- A clean, scalable data model for Ignition
This phase was critical. It also caused some understandable anxiety.
“We invoiced 85% of the order value,” CSI joked, “and nothing was visible yet. Management wasn’t thrilled. But once the first panel came online, everything else accelerated.”
Phase 2: Ignition, MES, ERP Integration, and Real-Time Insight
With the new controls in place, the software layer could finally take shape.
Key architectural components included:
- Ignition is the central operations platform
- Sepasoft MES for scheduling, work orders, OEE, and downtime tracking
- ERP integration (Sage X3) to pull and push manufacturing data
- Canary Historian for high-resolution time-series data
- Ignition Edge devices enable lightweight, scalable data collection
- A future-ready UNS structured within Ignition
This architecture gave Mentis something they never had: a single source of truth for all production data.
Replacing Paper Workflows With Digital Operations
One of the most transformative steps was moving from manual, paper-based reporting to structured, digital workflows inside Ignition.
Before:
- Operators received orders on paper
- Managers walked line-to-line hourly to collect counts
- Downtime reasons were handwritten
- Material consumption tracked manually in Excel
After:
- Work orders flow automatically from ERP into MES
- Production data is logged in real-time
- Downtime reasons are both automated and operator-selectable
- Operators receive machine setup specifications digitally
- Managers access live dashboards from anywhere
“Before, we didn’t know what we were manufacturing on the floor,” Ernest explained.
“Now we consume work orders, run them, and send accurate feedback to ERP with actuals and material consumption.”
Real-Time Visibility That Changed the Conversation
Once the live dashboards were introduced, the impact was immediate.
A management review meeting summed it up perfectly:
The CEO asked, “You’re telling me only two lines are running?”
“Yes,” the team said. “For the first time ever, you can actually see it.”
Suddenly, decisions weren’t based on assumptions; they were based on facts.
The new real-time screens display:
- Production states
- Live OEE
- Performance vs. targets
- Running vs. idle vs. downtime
- Hour-by-hour output
- Operator activity
- Top downtime causes
And when a line goes red?
“Everyone runs,” Ernest joked. “It means something is genuinely wrong, and now we all know it instantly.”
Operator Adoption: A Cultural Shift
Introducing digital tools also meant retraining operators, many of whom had decades of experience using paper-based processes.
CSI approached this carefully:
- Screens were simplified and template-driven
- Interfaces were standard across machines
- Systems were introduced as standalone before full integration
- Training focused on helping operators feel confident, not overwhelmed
The result is a system that operators actually enjoy using.
Daily Automated Reporting: The New Normal
At 7 a.m. every day, Ignition automatically generates and distributes:
- Production reports
- Downtime summaries
- Area performance overviews
Managers walk into morning meetings with a complete view of the previous day, without collecting a single piece of paper.
Building for the Future
Mentis’ roadmap includes:
- Expanding to additional production areas
- Rolling out more Ignition modules
- Scaling MES to additional product lines
- Publishing plant data into the UNS
- Integrating more deeply with Canary and Power BI
The architecture is designed to scale effortlessly.
A Modern Manufacturing Success Story
What began as a hardwired, manual environment has evolved into a modern, data-driven operation that connects ERP, MES, operators, controls, and management in real-time.
Through strategic planning, strong collaboration between OT and IT, and a willingness to rethink long-standing processes, Mentis has built a foundation for the next decade of growth.