Manufacturing environments have 10 times more connected devices than corporate settings - IT systems, OT assets, engineering platforms, sensors and legacy equipment not built with security in mind. Local plant ownership traditions clash with centralized security needs, while endless vulnerabilities meet limited resources and tight maintenance windows. Traditional compliance approaches fail when patching cycles don't align with production realities.

Success requires radical prioritization - ranking environments based not just on revenue but on factors like inventory buffers, single-source products and public health impact. Joint governance and tabletop exercises transform adversarial relationships into partnerships where plant managers become security advocates.

In this session, Betsy Wille, CISO at Fresenius Medical Care, will share insights on:

• How to rank critical sites using revenue, business continuity and reputation - not just financials;
• Strategies to build trust through on-site engagement, joint planning and realistic crisis simulations with operations teams;
• Maturity scoring that rewards practical security controls over rigid compliance checklists.