DevOps and Zero Trust for a Carter's Manufacturing Plant
Stood up a DevOps program to a higher standard and secured a Carter's manufacturing/OT plant with Zero Trust principles over a 9-month engagement, reducing implicit trust between corporate IT and the shop floor.
The Challenge
Carter's needed a DevOps program that could ship software to a consistent standard, and a manufacturing/OT plant that could no longer sit on implicit trust from corporate IT.
- 1DevOps practice lacked a consistent standard for pipelines, access, secrets, and environment separation
- 2The manufacturing/OT plant still trusted the corporate network by default
- 3Shop-floor systems were reachable from IT paths that did not belong on the plant floor
- 4Plant access needed a Zero Trust model without shutting down production work
- 5Both workstreams had to land inside a 9-month engagement
Our Approach
Ran two workstreams in parallel: mature the DevOps program (pipeline, access, secrets, environment separation), and segment the OT plant from IT with Zero Trust access to plant systems.
DevOps Program Standard
Defined the target DevOps standard: who can change what, how code moves through environments, and how secrets stay out of the pipeline.
Pipeline, Access, and Secrets
Stood up CI/CD with separated environments, least-privilege pipeline access, and a secrets path that did not depend on shared credentials.
IT/OT Segmentation
Segmented the manufacturing plant from corporate IT so shop-floor systems were no longer on an implicit-trust path from the office network.
Zero Trust Plant Access
Put Zero Trust access in front of plant systems so operators and support staff reached OT only after identity, device, and context checks.
The Results
In 9 months Carter's had a DevOps program at a higher operating standard and an OT plant that no longer assumed trust from corporate IT.
Adil was instrumental in helping us implement our DevOps program to world-class standards and secure our Manufacturing/OT plant with Zero Trust principles.
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