Manufacturing operations consulting and AI transformation — plant floor to enterprise.
Equipment breaking down, quality escaping to customers, AI pilots that won't scale — ForgeShift finds the specific fracture and fixes it. Principal-led. Ontario-based.
How manufacturers engage with ForgeShift
Eight stages, eight ways in. Start wherever your problem is — free to diagnose, principal-led to execute, sustained after. Hover a stage on the dial — or pick one below — to read it.
Run your first AI-native workflow.
One working AI system — built from the data you already have.
The fractures we're built to fix
Six capabilities. Hover one to hear the fracture it closes.
"Every fix is a guess — and I have no idea how we compare to anyone else."
Downtime here, scrap there, targets missed. The operation is slipping without a clear read on root cause.
Principal-led manufacturing and digital advisory
In high-stakes environments, speed is not a luxury — it is the ultimate strategic defensive measure.
Prior to founding ForgeShift Advisory, Hendrik led Industry 4.0 transformation across 60+ global manufacturing facilities at Magna International (body & chassis component group) — overseeing manufacturing process technology and smart manufacturing implementation across divisions.
Formerly Senior Director Manufacturing Process Technology at Magna International and Strategy Consultant at PwC Strategy&. M.Sc. Industrial Engineering, TU Braunschweig.
Based in Toronto, Ontario — serving manufacturers from 10-employee companies to large public enterprises.
Sectors
Before you engage
How do I reduce unplanned downtime in my manufacturing plant?
Reducing unplanned downtime starts with understanding which equipment fails most often and whether there are early warning signs you are currently missing. The most common root causes are reactive maintenance (no planned PM schedule), missing equipment history (no CMMS), and no condition monitoring on critical assets. The 2026 Advanced Manufacturing Outlook survey of 114 Canadian manufacturers found that unplanned downtime is the top reported production loss driver. ForgeShift Compass diagnoses exactly where your maintenance practices sit today, and the Forge Sprint then executes the fix — mapping the specific interventions other manufacturers your size have used to recover 30–50% of downtime losses.
Book a Discovery Call to start your Forge Sprint diagnostic →
Where do I start with AI and digital transformation in my factory?
The right starting point depends on your biggest operational pain, not a generic framework. If you don't know where the constraint is, ForgeShift Map turns your facility into a digital twin from an address and lights up the bottleneck capping throughput. If you know the problem but not the practice, the free ForgeShift Compass diagnostic maps it to the lean practice that solves it, benchmarked against 114 Canadian manufacturers. If you already know the workflow you want fixed, a First Build rebuilds one workflow AI-native from data you already keep. The 2026 Advanced Manufacturing Outlook survey found 31% of Canadian manufacturers say "too many choices, unsure where to start" is their biggest barrier.
What is a digital twin and do I need sensors to build one?
No sensors and no integration. ForgeShift Map builds a working digital twin from your facility's address: it resolves the building footprint from satellite imagery, lays out your floor as a process canvas, maps the value stream for your highest-value product, and identifies the one constraint capping throughput — in about fifteen minutes. It applies operations science your team already trusts: value stream mapping, Object Process Methodology, Factory Physics, and Theory of Constraints. Deeper system and sensor connections are optional and layered in later as the twin matures.
How much does it cost to get one AI workflow running in my plant?
A First Build is $5,000 CAD before tax, fixed price and fixed scope, for one working AI-native workflow. It's built from records you already keep — shift logs, quality sheets, ERP exports — and requires no new sensors, PLC integration, or data pipeline. Scope and price are confirmed before you book, and we verify your data is buildable first. Anything needing new instrumentation is a custom engagement, not a First Build. Your team runs and owns the result, so the capability stays in-house.
How do I get my team to actually use AI on the plant floor?
Deploying tools isn't the same as changing how work gets done — the common failure is tools installed while the team still works the old way. ForgeShift Apprentice is an expert-curated, AI-tutored learning platform that builds applied judgment rather than tool familiarity: each course pairs an interactive podcast, a timed whiteboard exercise, and a live AI tutor you can interrupt. Courses are routed to your role and sequenced across four mastery levels — Understand, Apply, Validate, Orchestrate. It also addresses knowledge loss, capturing the judgment that otherwise retires with your most experienced people. Plans start at $7.99 CAD/month — see the pricing section for the full breakdown.
How do I get Canadian government funding for manufacturing technology?
Several Canadian programmes support manufacturers investing in digital and operational technology. The most relevant for manufacturing SMEs are NRC IRAP (Industrial Research Assistance Program), NGen (Next Generation Manufacturing Canada) consortium project funding, and SR&ED (Scientific Research and Experimental Development) tax credits. FedDev Ontario and BDC technology financing round out the landscape for Ontario-based businesses.
These programmes can often be combined — a well-structured project may recover a significant portion of implementation cost, though the right stack depends on the nature of the work and how the project is scoped.
Ask us how to structure your project for maximum funding recovery →
Why do AI pilots in manufacturing succeed but fail to scale across the enterprise?
The cause is almost never the technology — it is the absence of a data strategy, operating model, and change management programme that can carry the pilot across business units and facilities. 82% of manufacturing executives cite data-related problems as the critical risk to their AI success, according to KPMG research. ForgeShift's enterprise transformation programme addresses all three barriers in sequence: Enablement (training, upskilling, operating model design), AI Product Development (data products, infrastructure, visualisation), and Domain-Driven Value Capture (domain roadmap, use case prioritisation, value realisation).
Book a Discovery Call to discuss your enterprise transformation →
How do I get started with ForgeShift and what does an engagement look like?
There's no required sequence — you start wherever your problem is, and most clients begin with one service rather than a programme. If you don't know where the constraint is, start with ForgeShift Map. If you know the problem but not the practice, run the free Compass diagnostic. If you already know which workflow is costing you, book a First Build: one working AI-native workflow, fixed $5,000 CAD. If the gap is capability rather than tooling, start with Apprentice. A Forge Sprint is a 30-day principal-led engagement for a specific operational fracture; Forge Transform is the enterprise programme for digital and AI transformation at scale. Sustain is available after any engagement to hold the gain. All engagements are principal-led — you work directly with Hendrik Lojek.
Not sure where to start?
Solve the problem.
Then automate.
Compass is for manufacturers who want to fix what's broken before buying technology. Describe the problem you're facing — get back the practice, the gaps, and the templates to act on today.
Open ForgeShift Compass →Ready to talk? Use the form to book a Discovery Call — expect a response within one business day.