【正文】 y contract manufacturers in their work of factories around the world. Cisco believed that outsourcing enabled it to tap the most costeffective manufacturing resources worldwide and to leverage its supply chain partners. Cisco itself would add value by managing the supply chain and focusing on product design and development. As the outsourced model became more sophisticated, Cisco‘s contract manufacturing partners took on increased responsibility for ponents planning and procurement, order scheduling, designing manufacturing processes, and overall supply chain management. Angel Mendez, Cisco‘s senior vice president of worldwide manufacturing, said, ―I think what we are doing, which is somewhat unique, is driving an adaptive supply chain in a very large 17 ―Cisco Selects India as Site for the Cisco Globalization Center,‖ op. cit. 18 Navi Radjou, ―Cisco : A New Tech Star Rises in the East,‖ Forrester Research Inc., December 29, 2020. 19 ―Letter to Shareholders,‖ 2020 Annual Report, op. cit. . Purchased by Benjamin Tso () on February 20, 2020 Cisco Systems, Inc.: Collaborating on New Product Introduction GS66 p. 6outsourced model across a very large spectrum of products and geographies. That bination 20is an interesting thing.‖ In the early twentyfirst century, Cisco consolidated its base of contract manufacturers and suppliers. It cut the number of contract manufacturers from 13 to 4 major ones by late 2020. This enabled it to leverage spending while working more closely with them. In winnowing the field, Cisco examined numerous aspects of its contract manufacturers: capacity to build in large volumes in multiple locations, ability to support a broad range of Cisco products, as well as 21design knowledge and new product introduction capabilities. Similarly, Cisco sharply reduced the number of vendors in its extended supply work. In early 2020, Cisco had close to 1,500 suppliers and 80 percent of its spending went to about 200 of them. By late 2020, it had about 600 suppliers and 90 percent of spending was with just 95 of them. The changes made it less 22costly and simpler to manage suppliers and also resulted in major cost savings on ponents. Many of Cisco‘s manufacturing and supply chain improvements were made under its Manufacturing Excellence or ―MX‖ initiative, launched in 2020. The aim was to promote general excellence in manufacturing by emphasizing major ―aspirational‖ improvements rather 23than incremental changes, according to Mendez. In early 2020, the pany began shifting formally to a manufacturing model called Cisco Lean, intended to boost efficiency and flexibility. The lean process, developed with Cisco‘s contract 24manufacturers and suppliers, was pleted in mid2020. The goal was to convert Cisco and its extended supply chain to a system in which product was built only after a customer had actually ordered it. Explaining Cisco Lean, Mendez said: Traditional manufacturing operates utilizing a ?push‘ model. In other words, a pany builds product based on what it forecasts customer demand to be. With a push model, the extended supply chain including contract manufacturers and suppliers are dependent on the accuracy of forecasts, which can vary. Lean manufacturing is a ―pull‖ model, which means that product is not built until the customer has already placed the order. This is also known in the industry as ―just 25in time‖ manufacturing. The benefits of lean manufacturing included reduced inventory across the extended supply chain, more predictability in lead times and ontime shipment, and simplified processes, according to Mendez. 20st Neil Shister, ―The 21 Century Supply Chain: A Conversation with Cisco‘s Angel Mendez,‖ World Trade, March 2020, . 21 James Carbone, ―Supply Chain Manager of the Year: Steve Darendinger, Champion of Change,‖ Purchasing, September 21, 2020, . 22 Ibid., . 23 Ibid., . 24 Form 10K for fiscal 2020, op. cit., . 25 ―Improving Customers‘ Experience Through World Class Supply Chain Management Processes,‖ Qamp。 Curt Franklin, ―How Routers Work,‖ and Jeff Tyson, ―How LAN Switches Work,‖ and ―Router‖, (February 27, 2020). 8―2020 Annual Report,‖ op. cit., , (February 5, 2020). 9―Acquisition Summary,‖ Cisco Systems, Inc., February 19, 2020, _year/ (February 19, 2020). 10―Cisco Systems Corporate Timeline,‖ op. cit., (February 5, 2020). Purchased by Benjamin Tso () on February 20, 2020 Cisco Systems, Inc.: Collaborating on New Product Introduction GS66 p. 4squarely at the center of innovation and is capable of changing the way people work, live, play 11and learn,‖ he wrote to shareholders. Collaboration and Globalization 12By 2020, nearly a quarter century after its founding, Cisco operated in more than 120 countries 13and employed 61,535 people. The business was anized into more than 40 business units, defined roughly by product spaces, such as core routing, edge routing, access routing or wireless working. Business units belonged to a half dozen broader groups such as service provider。 it quickly expanded into sales to telemunications and broadband service providers and, later, to consumers. In the 1990s, Cisco emerged as a leader in working technology for the Inter age, respected for both its technology and management practices. At the helm was John T. Chambers, who became chief executive officer in 1995 and went on to bee one of the world‘s most visible CEOs, considered a tech visionary and management guru. Cisco enjoyed meteoric growth during the 1980s and 1990s. It went public in February 1990. Just eight and a half years later, its market value topped $100 billion, reaching that mark faster 4than any pany in history. In March 2020, for a brief