WSNs are largely deployed nowadays in “smart factories”. However, their smooth operation is hindered by device heterogeneity and lack of integration with the current IT systems. The SIMPLE project aims at seamless inter-working of sensors, actuators, tags and devices with business IT systems and distributed control systems towards simpler integrated manufacturing processes. SIMPLE delivers a novel hierarchical network architecture, based on the envisioned manufacturing processes and reflecting the functional hierarchy of aggregations of goods or production processes found in the manufacturing use case.