I was thinking about all the supply chain agility issues Santa would have this year – probably the same every year. Like the fact that he has to deliver to hundreds of millions of folks on one particular day of the year.
He’s been doing this for hundreds of years with only one workshop -- not located anywhere near any major distribution routes and with a small but obviously highly productive workforce. Add to this his orders come in only a few weeks before 25th December – some on the 24th! And somehow he hasn’t any carry over stock on the 26th. Miss the 25th and you’ve had it!
Downside of this squeeze is that you can often get that same ol’ pair of socks, that boring polyester tie or that colorful sweater that you’ll never wear. Maybe even a lump of coal if you’re really unlucky. So here’s a message to Santa… Read More »
Last month at the SPS/IPC/Drives Show, I spoke to a Vice President of Operations for a large semiconductor manufacturer. He is responsible for the global operation of approximately 20 wafer fabrication facilities. He glanced at our logo and my name badge and with a puzzled look asked the following simple question, “Why is Cisco at the SPS Drives show and how can Cisco help my operation?”
Well, my first inclination was to enthusiastically communicate our whole offer converged Industrial Intelligence and Manufacturing solutions, but I paused and replied, ” I’m not sure we can help you, but I have 7 years of previous experience working in your industry and I’m very interested in knowing …. What keeps you up at night these days?” The following is a summary of our conversation as it relates to his communicated supply chain, operational management, design and business value challenges. Are you experiencing the same headaches? And are they keeping you up at night? Does Cisco have a solution to cure those sleepless nights? Read More »
This question was posed by the Manufacturing IT Director for a major Pharma producer, as part of an annual customer advisory board hosted jointly by Cisco and Rockwell Automation. One answer: Good luck! …And why would you want to?
Chet Namboodri talks about how consumer products are entering production and maintenance workflows and how “Rockwell and Cisco are in the forefront of enabling those solutions” during a recent customer innovation council session.
The migration of technology and applications from Consumer to Business to Industrial has become a well worn path, and the use of Smart Phones, Tablets, Mobile Video and other Operator Interfaces powering work flows and industrial intelligence has become a mainstay for Manufacturers. Read More »
As I’m focusing more on Collaboration and Innovationand less on Supply Chainthese days, I thought I’d share a story of ‘Ideation’ with you for my opening blog. That’s because it’s usually one of the first steps in the product development lifecycle, and makes chronological sense when discussing innovation. In later blogs I’ll share some of the subsequent steps – you know: Selection, Prototyping, Validation, Development and finally, Launch. Different companies use different terms and different processes, but all good products start out with a good idea.
Let me take you back in time for a moment. When I was eight years old I noticed that the local UK comic magazine that I bought on a weekly basis was running competitions for readers to submit puzzles for other readers to solve. I was attracted to the Secret Service game that was one of the prize options, but what was my idea? How was I going to win if I didn’t have a good idea? Well, I decided that I’d submit a match puzzle -- you know we actually had lots of matches in the 60’s! This puzzle isn’t hard (please remember I was eight years old) and looked something like the picture above. The question was “How do you make a square by adding just one more match and not moving the others?”
Anyway, fairly obvious that you make a square by placing a forth match adjoining the other three to make a square with the bases as in the next picture (click ‘read more’ when finished with this page to see how). Well, I had the pride of seeing my puzzle published and, more importantly for me, I actually won the Secret Service game! But that’s not the point… Read More »
Did you know that the Manufacturing Industry is one of Cisco’s biggest sectors served, greater than 10% of overall revenues? You probably know that Cisco has historically served the Enterprise IT and Network buying centers of most manufacturing companies around the globe, but did you know that Cisco has the same business magnitude as Rockwell Automation, Emerson Process Management and Honeywell Process Systems within the manufacturing industry?
That’s because over the past decade we’ve pushed the relevance of Cisco well beyond the concerns of the networking engineer and are now leading the dialogue, solutions and innovations for manufacturers’ lines of business—crossing the entire value chain and ecosystems that compose a manufacturing enterprise. With a complement of collaboration, virtualization and video service architectures that we provide over the network, Cisco has proven to be a trusted partner for manufacturers, transforming their businesses and creating long-term competitive advantage through new models for customer growth, product and business innovation, agility and operational excellence.
Welcome to Cisco’s online presence for the Manufacturing industry, one of Cisco’s largest vertical business segments.
So what can you expect from this blog? Who are the people contributing, and what are their backgrounds? What are Cisco’s views and opinions about the manufacturing Industry? Why would you be interested? Read More »
