diff --git a/apps/base/customer1/siriusdevops-db/kustomization.yaml b/apps/base/customer1/siriusdevops-db/kustomization.yaml
index a57f838..4f1f076 100644
--- a/apps/base/customer1/siriusdevops-db/kustomization.yaml
+++ b/apps/base/customer1/siriusdevops-db/kustomization.yaml
@@ -11,7 +11,5 @@ resources:
   # Trading platform DB (migrated from hermes-pgdb)
   - trading-db-credentials.yaml
   - trading-data-db.yaml
-  # Strimzi Kafka operator (CRDs + operator deployment)
-  - https://strimzi.io/install/1.0.0?namespace=customer1
-  # Kafka cluster (applied after operator CRDs are available)
+  # Kafka cluster (depends on strimzi/ kustomization for CRDs)
   - trading-kafka.yaml
diff --git a/apps/base/customer1/siriusdevops-db/strimzi/kustomization.yaml b/apps/base/customer1/siriusdevops-db/strimzi/kustomization.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..353bf9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/base/customer1/siriusdevops-db/strimzi/kustomization.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
+kind: Kustomization
+resources:
+  # Strimzi Kafka operator - CRDs + cluster operator
+  # Pinned to 1.0.0 for reproducible deployments
+  - https://strimzi.io/install/1.0.0?namespace=customer1