• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Reimagined Communication Boosts Cisco's Product Quality
Case Study

Reimagined Communication Boosts Cisco's Product Quality

November 1, 2020
SupplyChainBrain

When the world’s biggest maker of networking technology finds its own internal communication breaking down, how is there any hope for the rest of us?

For Cisco Systems Inc., the solution was a digital transformation of its information supply chain. 

After a probe into escalating customer complaints in 2015, Cisco’s quality control team discovered a number of process failures due to inefficient communication and broken datasets across slow and outdated platforms. At the same time, a changing data strategy required business and I.T. teams to work more closely to create a simplified and streamlined infrastructure: a one-stop shop for all quality metrics. 

Cisco decided on a workflow platform that would seamlessly integrate into daily operations to create efficiencies by streamlining issue documentation, tracking and cross-functional communication. A critical requirement was that the platform process and analyze data needed for decision making. 

Three Network Criteria

Three criteria needed to be met for the entire network — including component suppliers, manufacturing sites, distribution sites and logistics partners: 

  • Ensure nonconforming materials don’t escape from the network;
  • Automate tedious, unnecessarily complex process steps, and
  • Clarify ownership and completion of specific tasks adhering to quality policies across a matrixed internal organization and complex supply-chain network.

In the past, Cisco’s supply chain had issues with non-conforming materials impacting its customers, because many critical steps for identifying nonconforming materials relied on one person deciding whether to analyze the data further — a task made even more difficult because some datasets weren’t accessible to all the right employees. It could take weeks to identify where all defective material was in the supply chain, then additional weeks or months confirming via e-mails that all non-compliant material had been purged. 

Cisco decided to focus on a strategy allowing for one platform to access multiple databases; digitize analyses and decision data on a workflow platform; and leverage the shop floor system’s traceability and “Autotest” system — Cisco’s final product-attribute validation check. An added feature also ensured that no orders containing known nonconforming materials can be shipped. 

While one company team developed a “Single Quality Metric Platform” to serve as a single source of truth for all quality data and metrics, another worked to break down the factory line stop, stop ship and purge processes into detailed steps. At each step, the team identified which tasks, owners and dependent processes were defined in “as is” versus “to be” states. The “to be” state was defined by:

  • Replacing less productive and untraceable e-mail, phone call and meeting communication cycles with decision points in the workflow platform, creating a record and measuring cycle time; 
  • Reducing and streamlining the tools used by each task owner, and
  • Eliminating manual collection of data and, where possible, automating analysis of that data for faster decision making.

From there, Cisco built the “Factory Quality Automation” platform, which connected APIs to produce data from components, inventory, manufacturing sites, finished goods, product lifecycle and more. The platform rolled out to 14 manufacturing sites spanning the globe, and as of late last year, all sites were using it to manage their quality incidents. 

A ‘Dramatic' Result

Cisco calls its improvements to factory quality incident processes “dramatic.” The company has increased data visibility for faster decision making, and created instant visibility into how those decisions are being executed. More than 30% of manual steps have been automated, while 20% were totally eliminated. Task ownership is distributed to the right experts, and they are brought in at the appropriate time. 

More benefits include:

  • 70% less time spent deciding whether defective material needs to be removed from the supply-chain network;
  • 60% less time spent removing defective material; 
  • 23% drop in annual avoidable returns, and
  • 80% drop in quarterly recall costs.

The platform enables a collaborative, virtual environment for Cisco’s component suppliers and manufacturing partners, too, reducing reliance on meetings. Together, they have counted more than 17,000 hours of productivity saved.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain) Business Strategy Alignment HR & Labor Management Quality & Metrics
  • Related Articles

    Speak Up: Voice Tech Boosts Product Inspections

    Arena Solutions Offers Product-Quality Tracking for Manufacturing

    Cisco Addresses Channel Partners' Complaints About Product Delivery Times, Looks To Do Better.

SupplyChainBrain

Boeing-DOJ ‘Sweetheart Deal’ Decried by Victim’s Wife

More from this author

Wake up to live
“Supply Chains in Crisis”
updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • INTERIOR OF A CHICKEN FARM, WITH WHITE CHICKENS AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE

    Worst Avian Flu in U.S. History Is Hitting Poultry

    Food & Beverage
  • TWO FINGERS MANIPULATE WOODEN LETTER BLOCKS TO TURN FROM SHOWING THE WORD RECOVERY TO RESILIENCE

    Five Challenges to Supply Chain Resilience in 2023

    Supply Chain Visibility
  • A PERSON HOLDS UP A TABLET COMPUTER IN A WAREHOUSE, SUPER-IMPOSED BY A GRAPHIC SHOWING A COMPLEX WEB OF SUPPLY CHAIN ELEMENTS

    Three Post-Pandemic Actions for Repairing Global Supply Chains

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • A MAN IN A SUIT SHAKES HANDS WITH A WOMAN IN A HARD HAT, NEXT TO A STACK OF CONTAINERS

    Three Procurement Technology Evolutions for 2023

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
  • The blank stare of a child's eye who is standing behind what appears to be a wooden frame

    The Alarming Continued Rise of Modern Slavery in Supply Chains: How Procurement Can Help Reverse the Trend

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM

Digital Edition

Scb nov 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated IFM
Infor Inmar Keelvar
Kinaxis Korber Lean Solutions Group 2H
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Logility
LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems MCA Connect
MPO Nvidia Old Dominion
OpenText ORTEC Overhaul
Parsyl PMMI QIMA
Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics
Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD
Shipwell Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing