Procter & Gamble
P&G partners with Portainer to containerize their MES software
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Business overview
Procter & Gamble (P&G) is the world’s largest consumer goods company, operating more than 130 manufacturing plants and serving billions of consumers across 70+ countries. Known for brands such as Tide, Pampers, Gillette, and Crest, P&G invests heavily in digital innovation to optimize manufacturing, modernize operations, and strengthen global supply chains. Their technology strategy includes advanced analytics, AI-driven automation, and cloud-based systems that support smart manufacturing at scale. With dedicated global tech hubs, P&G continues to evolve its production capabilities to meet growing demand and ensure operational excellence across its facilities
The challenge
Despite managing 130 manufacturing plants globally, P&G’s efforts to modernize have been challenged by a continued reliance on legacy, thick client systems
“For us it is a different journey because we are moving from a thick client where you have to manually install to a web-based client"
The thick client systems limit P&G’s ability to adopt modern container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes that promise greater scalability, easier deployments, and higher efficiency.
Their main Manufacturing Execution System (MES) software, GE Proficy, epitomizes these challenges.
“We’ve always had Proficy... for over 50 years now. But running traditionally on desktops, it restricts operational agility."
Because of this P&G has partnered with Portainer to containerize Proficy as part of a broader cloud-native transition.
The real-world impact of smarter container management.
Operation Efficiency
Engineering Efficiency
Increase in productivity
The solution
Legacy systems have made adoption difficult. P&G’s customized solutions with hardcoded components also complicate containerizing apps. Nevertheless, with Portainer’s help, P&G aims to migrate 30 sites currently, with 5 more in the lab, to a 100 site goal.
This will require navigating P&G’s rigorous internal security reviews.
“It has taken time and some effort, but immediately the 20 users are already seeing major productivity gains."
Then by expanding to 80 users after security assessments, Adefemi expects operations efficiency to increase by a stunning 80%.
By securing access and only allowing visibility through Portainer, it provides robust, role-based access control (RBAC) that is much needed in industrial environments.
To support this journey, GE plans to transition Proficy to Kubernetes by 2024.
“That will also expose us to better usage of Portainer."
He also highlighted the need for enhanced monitoring and deployment capabilities. With Portainer’s latest release addressing these gaps, the future looks bright.
“It has taken time and some effort, but immediately the 20 users are already seeing major productivity gains."
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