Custom Solutions
We design solutions adapted to the specific reality of your company, sector and operation: we start from the concrete operational problem, define the scope with you and build only what adds value to your process.
Custom industrial software: when standard tools do not fit
Most business needs in an industrial company are well served by standard software. The gap appears at the operations layer, where every plant is different: quality flows, batch traceability or machine monitoring rarely fit a generic product without workarounds. Telltale signs are spreadsheets growing around the official system, expensive customisations that break on every upgrade, and captured data you cannot actually use.
The build vs buy decision should be made process by process: buy for generic processes, consider building where the process is part of your competitive edge, comparing total cost over several years rather than licence price. Custom solutions should be built on top of the data the plant already generates, reading from PLCs, quality records and the ERP through documented interfaces instead of creating a new silo.
Avoiding future legacy is a design problem: explicit interfaces, established technologies, client-owned code and documentation, small composable systems and a maintenance plan defined from day one. Our work starts from your specific operation, often after an operational diagnosis, and delivers in short, plant-tested iterations. See our industrial consulting services for the full picture.
How it connects to the system
This solution fits the Captia architecture: it defines the diagnosis and prioritisation frame that activates Connect, AI, Energy and Service.
Other solutions
- Operational Diagnosis
We analyse your operation to identify inefficiencies, visibility gaps and improvement opportunities. Field work on the shop floor, evidence-based analysis and actionable deliverables: an operational assessment, a systems map and prioritised quick wins.
- Architecture Design
We design the technical and functional architecture of the solution adapted to your current infrastructure: which systems integrate, how data flows between plant and management and which pieces are needed before investing in new technology.
- Transformation Roadmap
We define a prioritised, actionable Industry 4.0 transformation plan aligned with your execution capacity. We start from the diagnosis findings and order initiatives by impact, effort and technical dependencies, in a clear sequence of phases.
Frequently asked questions
- When does custom software pay off over a standard product?
- When the process you need to support is a competitive advantage or a genuine particularity of your operation, and bending a standard product costs more in configuration and compromises than building something small and well scoped. For generic processes, off-the-shelf almost always wins.
- What does a plant need before considering custom software?
- Clarity about the process to digitise and access to the data that feeds it: machine signals, quality records, ERP orders. Infrastructure does not need to be perfect, but you must know where the data lives and who maintains it.
- How do you keep a custom solution from becoming legacy?
- Through explicit design decisions: documented interfaces to the ERP and shop-floor data capture, minimal and updatable dependencies, client-owned code and knowledge transfer from day one. Legacy comes from coupling and single-person knowledge, not from age.
- Does a custom build replace the MES or ERP?
- Usually not, and it should not. It typically covers the gap between them: a specific quality flow, a dashboard on machine data, planning logic the standard tool does not support. It integrates with existing systems instead of duplicating them.