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How did a manufacturing software company pivot from targeting machine OEMs to end-user manufacturers?

September 19, 2026 The Manufacturing IT Podcast · Bryan Sapot

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The company initially targeted mid-market machine manufacturers with a software-enabled monitoring service, but discovered they lacked readiness for the approach. In 2016, the pivot toward end-user manufacturers began, connecting directly to factory floor equipment through PLCs and sensors to eventually build a comprehensive platform for managing entire factory operations.

What looked like the right market proved to be a dead end. The original strategy—helping machine OEMs monitor equipment in the field—assumed that equipment makers wanted to own the data relationship with their customers. This assumption proved false. Machine manufacturers weren't prepared to shift into a services model, and the pitch fell flat.

The turning point came when the company recognized a different opportunity. Instead of selling to the equipment maker, why not connect directly to the equipment itself? This insight led to a fundamental business model shift. By tapping into existing PLC and sensor connections on the factory floor, the product could bypass the middleman entirely and serve end-user manufacturers directly—the people actually running the machines day to day.

As explored in detail in this episode of The Manufacturing IT Podcast, the pivot required rebuilding the entire product architecture and go-to-market strategy, but it aligned the company with a market segment that desperately needed visibility into their operations.

From service model to platform: the 2019 turning point

Between 2016 and 2019, the company transformed from a services-first approach into a full platform offering. By 2019, the turnkey solution was fully developed and ready to deploy at scale. This meant factories could implement the system with minimal custom engineering—a critical factor for adoption in a market skeptical of lengthy, expensive implementations.

The platform's core strength became clear: real-time visibility into production. Factory managers could finally answer questions that had always required walking the floor or checking clipboards—when will a job finish, where is it in the process right now, what's causing delays. Bryan Sapot, CEO of Mingo Smart Factory, explains in the episode how this transparency feeds directly into improvement projects, giving manufacturing engineers the data they need to identify bottlenecks and track gains over time.

"It's easy to get people to do this stuff. It's hard to keep them doing it because they want help."

The real challenge wasn't technology—it was sustaining behavioral change. Factories could install sensors and dashboards, but continuous improvement required operators and engineers to stay engaged with the data over time. This insight shaped how Mingo built its product roadmap and customer support model.

One concrete detail worth discovering in the full episode is how Sapot discusses the market readiness challenge—why 60% of traditional MES (Manufacturing Execution System) deployments fail, and how Mingo's direct-to-floor architecture avoids those pitfalls by eliminating the need for heavy customization and organizational restructuring.

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