When cyberattacks hit, operations can grind to a halt. For many manufacturers, this is no longer an abstract risk—they have experienced the disruption first-hand. As attacks grow in number and sophistication, cybersecurity has become essential to keeping production running. Heidelberg Materials knows this challenge well. As Vice President of Technology, Christian Klaucke is responsible for the IT landscape of 130 cement plants, 600 quarries and 1,300 concrete plants worldwide. His top priority is a stable IT infrastructure that allows Heidelberg Materials to operate securely across all locations. Not an easy feat: “IT/OT security in our cement plants is a major challenge. Our infrastructures are not standardised or centrally managed. The cement business is highly local, and we’ve grown significantly through acquisitions over the years,” he explains. The result has been limited visibility across sites and no reliable way to manage individual locations centrally. That is now set to change. Klaucke is working towards a unified IT/OT platform that his teams can operate centrally from Brno, Czech Republic.
Global project requirements – An IT rollout spanning 50 countries.
That challenge led Christian Klaucke and his team to Bechtle: “We operate in around 50 countries. Some of our plants are located in very remote areas that are difficult to reach. You can’t simply ship hardware by post. Getting to the sites is often a challenge in itself, as there are no developed roads. We needed a partner who knows what they’re getting into, isn’t deterred by uncertainty—and can still deliver a cross‑continental IT infrastructure rollout within a reasonable timeframe.” Logistics and customs, in particular, require patience, expertise and a clear plan. Conditions differ widely from country to country, and the exact requirements are not always obvious from the outset. “There are only a few partners who can handle this,” Klaucke says. Working with Christian Reuer, Key Account Manager at Bechtle, Klaucke and his team defined the scope of the project: Over the next five years, 130 cement plants will be equipped with a standardised hardware bundle comprising four servers, three switches, two adapters and a storage system. Particularly critical sites will also be fitted with a disaster recovery option.
Operational execution – Logistics, customs and local conditions.
At its location in Bielefeld, Germany, Bechtle’s team has established a structured staging process to prepare all components for deployment at Heidelberg Materials. Every component is configured and validated before it ships out. This includes firmware upgrades, switch port configuration and server updates, as well as bundling the hardware into compact, ready‑to‑deploy units. Christian Reuer: “This ensures that standardised hardware arrives on site so the customer can just plug and play.”
Then the rollout begins. “We started out with ambitious targets and planned to equip 40 plants per year with the new hardware,” Reuer recalls. But reality soon set in. “In Europe, we could’ve easily pulled that off, but in other regions, things often move at a different pace. Even with careful planning, progress can be slow.” The main bottleneck is customs clearance. “It’s something of a black box,” says Reuer. “Once a consignment enters the customs process, all we can often do is wait.”
