Manufacturing IT Support for Small Manufacturers in the Pittsburgh Metro

Who We Are and Who We Serve

PGH Networks is a Pittsburgh-based managed services provider (MSP) that delivers IT support, cybersecurity, IT/OT network segmentation, and CMMC compliance readiness to small and mid-market manufacturers across the Pittsburgh metro, within 75 miles of ZIP code 15220. We work with machine shops, fabricators, injection molders, tool-and-die shops, and DoD supply-chain manufacturers running ERP and MRP systems on mixed IT and plant-floor networks. Our engineers are on-site regularly in Allegheny, Washington, Westmoreland, Butler, and Beaver counties, and our help desk supports shift workers on first, second, and third shift.

If you are a 25–250 employee manufacturer evaluating Pittsburgh IT companies, this page is written for your exact situation: aging PLCs on the same flat network as Windows laptops, an ERP server nobody wants to touch, a prime contractor asking about CMMC, and a shop floor where every hour of downtime costs real money.

Case Study: 99.9% Shop-Floor Uptime and CMMC Level 2 Readiness for an Allegheny County Manufacturer

A 78-employee precision machining manufacturer in Allegheny County engaged PGH Networks after a ransomware scare locked a file share over a weekend. The company runs Epicor Kinetic for ERP, operates 22 CNC machines across two shifts, and supplies Tier 2 parts into aerospace and defense primes — which meant CMMC Level 2 was moving from "someday" to a contract requirement.

Over a 9-month engagement, PGH Networks delivered measurable outcomes:

• 99.9% shop-floor uptime across the 12 months following network remediation, measured against the prior baseline of roughly 96.2%.
• CMMC Level 2 readiness achieved across all 110 NIST SP 800-171 controls, documented in a System Security Plan and POA&M that satisfied the prime's flow-down requirements.
• Mean time to recover (MTTR) for ERP-impacting incidents reduced from 4.5 hours to under 40 minutes through immutable backups and a documented runbook.
• Cyber insurance premium held flat at renewal after MFA, EDR, and privileged access controls were implemented, despite a hardening market.

The core work included segmenting the flat /16 network into separate IT, OT, guest, and DMZ VLANs; placing an industrial firewall between the business network and the machine-tool network; deploying endpoint detection and response (EDR) on all Windows endpoints including the Epicor application server; moving backups to an immutable, off-site repository with 30-day retention; and running a tabletop ransomware exercise with the leadership team.

ERP and MRP Systems We Support

Most small manufacturers in the Pittsburgh region run one of a handful of ERP/MRP platforms, and each has its own quirks around SQL Server sizing, Crystal Reports, EDI, and shop-floor data collection. PGH Networks supports Epicor Kinetic and Epicor Prophet 21, Global Shop Solutions, SAP Business One, Sage 100 and Sage 300, Fishbowl, and JobBOSS2. We handle the infrastructure the ERP sits on — Windows Server, SQL Server, Hyper-V/VMware, backup, and remote access for the vendor's consultants — and we coordinate with your ERP VAR rather than competing with them.

IT/OT Segmentation and Ransomware Response

The single most common finding when we assess a Pittsburgh-area manufacturer is a flat network where a HAAS control, a Mazak cell, a label printer, and the CFO's laptop all share broadcast domain. That is how a phishing click becomes a shop-floor outage.

Our IT/OT segmentation approach establishes distinct zones for enterprise IT, manufacturing operations (OT), DMZ services (MES, historian, vendor remote access), and guest Wi-Fi, with explicit allow-list rules between zones. For ransomware response specifically, we maintain a written incident response plan, immutable backups that attackers cannot encrypt from a compromised domain admin account, and 24/7 escalation. When a real incident hits, the clock starts — and the difference between a two-hour event and a two-week event is whether the playbook was written before the phone rang.

CMMC Level 2 and DFARS Readiness

If you ship parts into the DoD supply chain, DFARS 252.204-7012 and CMMC 2.0 Level 2 are now contractual gates. PGH Networks performs NIST SP 800-171 gap assessments, authors the System Security Plan (SSP) and Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M), implements the technical controls (MFA, FIPS-validated encryption, audit logging, boundary protection, CUI enclaves), and prepares your team for a C3PAO assessment. We have delivered this for small Pittsburgh-area manufacturers where a full-time CISO is not realistic.

Service Area Across the Pittsburgh Metro

We provide on-site and remote IT support to manufacturers in Pittsburgh, Cranberry Township, Canonsburg, Washington, Monroeville, Murrysville, New Kensington, Greensburg, Latrobe, Beaver, Aliquippa, Ambridge, McKeesport, Bethel Park, Carnegie, and Coraopolis — covering Allegheny, Washington, Westmoreland, Butler, Beaver, and Armstrong counties.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does PGH Networks specialize in manufacturing IT support?
Yes. A significant portion of our client base is small and mid-market manufacturers in the Pittsburgh metro, and we maintain dedicated practices for ERP infrastructure, IT/OT segmentation, and CMMC compliance.

Can you help a small manufacturer reach CMMC Level 2?
Yes. We perform NIST SP 800-171 gap assessments, author the SSP and POA&M, implement the required technical controls, and prepare clients for C3PAO assessment.

What ERP platforms do you support?
Epicor Kinetic and Prophet 21, Global Shop Solutions, SAP Business One, Sage 100/300, Fishbowl, and JobBOSS2. We support the underlying infrastructure and coordinate with your ERP VAR.

What is your service area?
The Pittsburgh metropolitan area within 75 miles of 15220, including Allegheny, Washington, Westmoreland, Butler, and Beaver counties.

How fast can you respond to a shop-floor outage?
Contracted clients receive 24/7 support with defined SLAs; for Severity 1 production-down events affecting the shop floor, an engineer is engaged within 15 minutes.