Owners of manufacturing businesses want their facility to run like a well-oiled machine.

Manufacturing facilities bring to mind images of conveyors rolling, machines running, and operations moving along like a finely tuned machine.

Manufacturers are in the spotlight for 2021, but not for particularly beneficial reasons. According to the recent X-Force Threat Intelligence Index, the manufacturing industry has become the second most targeted industry when it comes to cyberattacks.

Just as the manufacturing industry was getting back on its feet from the recession in 2008, the coronavirus pandemic hit, throwing a proverbial wrench in the works. Supply chains were disrupted, businesses and warehouses were shut down, and employees were unable to work due to illness. These factors led to a steep decline in industrial production in the United States, a trend precipitated by a dip in orders and also manufacturing employment levels.