The platform is new. The products in it are not.
Two kinds of proof on this page, kept apart on purpose. What Lake has done, and what the industry can verify. Everything in the second group carries a source and a date, because a benchmark nobody can check is worth less than no benchmark at all.
What is already running
1,000+ manufacturers served since 1983, focused on the Midwest. 650+ running Lake software today.
Shop-Trak
More than 30 years in the field, roughly 400 manufacturers.
Doc-Trak
Roughly 850 manufacturers.
Fact-Trak
Analytics and planning on your SyteLine data, with one shared definition for each measure. The capability that defines the Pro tier.
Machine-Trak
Acquired as Freedom IoT in 2026: 65 or more connectors covering CNC, PLC-based and legacy assets, and a machine data product that has been in production for years under its original brand.
Quality-Trak
Acquired as ProTrack in 2026 and built by the original architect of the SyteLine quality module, with manufacturers already running the product it came from.
Vantage
Expected early 2027. No proof claimed, and a design partner list open instead.
Nine industry figures, each with a source behind it
Including one entry that says a number does not exist. We would rather tell you that than quote a figure nobody can trace.
Machine effectiveness in the field peaks between 55 and 60 percent
Across more than 3,500 connected machines in over 50 countries, measured effectiveness clusters at 55 to 60 percent. Around 6 percent of organisations score above 85 percent, and closer to 3 percent once calculation errors are excluded.
Source: Evocon, analysis of 3,500+ connected machines across 50+ countries, May 2023 to June 2024. Methodology disclosed.The 85 percent world class figure is a 1984 reference point, not a modern average
85 percent comes from availability 90, performance 95 and quality 99, published in Nakajima's 1984 introduction to total productive maintenance. It has roots in a particular country, decade and industry. It is a target worth knowing and a bad benchmark to be measured against.
Source: Seiichi Nakajima, Introduction to TPM, 1984, as documented by the publishers of the OEE standard.27 hours of unplanned downtime per plant per month
And mean time to recover has moved from 49 minutes to 81 minutes. Time metrics generalise across plant sizes in a way that dollar figures from Fortune 500 studies do not.
Source: Siemens and Senseye, True Cost of Downtime 2024. 181 interviews with maintenance, engineering and IT professionals across four sectors.Only 31 percent of organisations fully understand what quality costs them
Not 31 percent have a quality problem. 31 percent can connect quality cost to financial performance at all. That is the gap a quality capability on the job record closes.
Source: ASQ Excellence, 2025 Insights on Excellence Cost of Quality Report.The top cause of ERP budget overrun is unexpected need for additional technology
From an independent survey of 170 organisations with a median nine month implementation timeline. More than a quarter went over budget and almost a quarter over schedule. Every bolt-on is a candidate for that line item.
Source: Panorama Consulting, 2026 ERP Report. 170 respondents, January 2025 to January 2026.Up to 1.9 million manufacturing roles could go unfilled by 2033
Of 3.8 million roles needed. 65 percent of manufacturers name talent attraction and retention as their primary challenge, and employees are 2.7 times less likely to leave when they see skill development.
Source: Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, April 2024. 200+ manufacturers surveyed.Level 4 plans in months, weeks and days. Level 3 works in days, shifts, hours and minutes
The international standard for enterprise and control system integration puts business planning at Level 4 and manufacturing operations at Level 3. Your ERP is Level 4. Every problem on this site is a Level 3 problem.
Source: ANSI ISA-95 and IEC 62264, six parts.The eleven classic shop floor functions were defined in 1997
By an industry association founded in 1992. The list has not needed revision, which is why it is the frame this site uses to describe what the floor has to do. Lake does not publish a function by function score against it today.
Source: MESA International, White Paper 6, MES Explained, 1997.Two things nobody publishes a defensible benchmark for
First pass yield and on time delivery for a 50 to 500 employee discrete manufacturer. The figures circulating for both trace back to unattributed tables and to one widely cited study that contains no numbers at all. So rather than quote one, this site asks you for yours.
Source: Verified absence. The most cited first pass yield source discloses no figures, and the most shared on time delivery table carries no attribution to any benchmarking body.Two numbers we will not publish, and why
First pass yield and on-time delivery benchmarks for a 50 to 500 employee discrete manufacturer. The figures circulating for both trace back to an unattributed table and to a study that contains no numbers. So instead of quoting one, the assessment asks you for yours. Over time that becomes a dataset this industry does not currently have.
Contribute yoursThe constraint on taking more work is rarely the machines. It is how many people it takes to keep track of them.
That story is about to matter more than it did. Of 3.8 million manufacturing roles the United States could need by 2033, as many as 1.9 million may go unfilled, and 65 percent of manufacturers name talent as their primary challenge. Instrumenting a floor is no longer a cost decision.
Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, April 2024.