Rivian built new kind of factory network where IT and OT operate as single ecosystem

Before any convergence of IT and OT functions could take place at Irvine, California-based Rivian Automotive, there had to be a “shift in mindset,” the EV maker’s network engineering senior manager, Rohini More Sr., told Smart Industry.

Rivian has won a 2026 Industrial Transformation Award in the Manufacturing category. What led to that honor? Because IT and OT convergence at the manufacturer is an unqualified success story.

The company—with a main factory in Normal, Illinois, and various technology and design centers in places like Michigan, Arizona, and Texas plus an East Coast headquarters in Atlanta and offices in Europe and Canada—has spent about the past two years on the project, More said.

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In that time, Rivian’s network engineering team, working side by side with manufacturing engineering (ME) and facilities, designed “a new kind of factory network—one where IT and OT operate as a single, unified ecosystem,” More told SI’s Scott Achelpohl.

“Together with ME, we created standardized network architectures that minimized isolated OT networks and securely connected production equipment, automation systems, and analytics platforms on a routable network—achieving true IT/OT convergence and end-to-end visibility,” she said.

For years, factory networks across the industry—including Rivian’s—followed a traditional model, she said: IT managed corporate systems, while OT managed machines and production lines.

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These two worlds rarely connected, More added, resulting in limited visibility, slower issue resolution and architectures that were at risk of falling behind the rapid growth and complexity of modern manufacturing.

Not anymore. Not at Rivian, she added.

Its factory now operates with 2,000-plus industrial-grade switches, all managed in-house by the company’s IT team. “We developed automation tools to generate and deploy configurations for hundreds of switches at scale—ensuring consistency, compliance, and agility as the factory continues to grow,” the network engineering manager said.

“Multiple layers of firewalls and secure access controls are deployed to protect production systems, while still allowing engineers to connect seamlessly and remotely when needed.”

The result of this transformation project at Rivian?

More said the manufacturer has achieved 99.99% network uptime and zero unplanned network downtime and has built a connected manufacturing environment that scales seamlessly as Rivian grows.

“What was once considered an afterthought—IT—has now become an integral part of the production ecosystem and the digital backbone of Rivian’s smart factories, enabling speed, visibility, and innovation across every part of production,” she remarked.

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Today at Rivian, for example, the network engineering team is engaged from the earliest line design phase, reviewing and approving production line layouts to ensure they align with the company’s network standards and resiliency framework, she said.

“This proactive involvement ensures that network readiness and reliability are built into every line design from day one, eliminating costly redesigns, improving commissioning efficiency, and preventing issues before they occur.”

More added: “We also implemented a continuous improvement process: Every new project undergoes a network-standards review where lessons learned and new ME requirements are integrated. These standards are now embedded in the core RFX packages sent to OEMs, ensuring standards compliance from day one.”