Networked supply chains help small manufacturers do big things. Manufacturers can connect their office networks with supply-chain operations to turn raw data into manufacturing intelligence, resulting in fast access to accurate data from every stage of production through service, marketing, and sales, helping you operate more efficiently, speed time to market, improve quality, and reduce costs. Read more about the technology in supply chain management in this case study/white paper.

---

by Tom Starner, illustration by Adam McCauley. iQ Magazine

Networked supply chains help small manufacturers do big things.

Summary
Manufacturers can connect their office networks with supply-chain operations to turn raw data into manufacturing intelligence, resulting in fast access to accurate data from every stage of production through service, marketing, and sales, helping you operate more efficiently, speed time to market, improve quality, and reduce costs.

From Cisco: Security from the Office to the Plant Floor Network security threats are a legitimate concern and have caused many manufacturers to physically isolate their plant floor networks from their office networks, according to Ralph Rio, research director for the ARC Advisory Group. A recent ARC survey of 119 industrial Ethernet users shows that 56 percent of them separate their office and plant floor networks physically, while 30 percent separate the networks logically by configuring firewalls or virtual private networks (VPNs). The same surveys show that within two years, fewer of these users plan to keep the networks physically separate (46 percent), and more of them (44 percent) plan to separate them logically. But first, they need the tools to make it work. "There is a growing need for products and services to securely connect the office to the plant floor," Rio says. "If that happens, an intelligent network for SMB manufacturers will support business processes and services and provide robust security at the same time." Cisco Self-Defending Network security products and services address this need. For example, Cisco offers SMB manufacturers the Cisco integrated services routers, which intelligently embed data, security, and voice communications services into a single, resilient system. They feature VPN encryption, firewall protection, inline intrusion protection, URL filtering, and more. "Cisco is providing gateways that are secure enough for SMB manufacturers to make the move to connect the office and plant systems via Ethernet," Rio says.—T.S.

New network strategies can help overcome challenges in the supply chain and across an entire manufacturing operation. An intelligent networked manufacturing strategy can transform raw data into manufacturing intelligence by linking the office network with product development, marketing, logistics, factory-floor, and service functions.

Intelligent networked manufacturing uses familiar technologies-such as Ethernet, Internet Protocol (IP), branch networks, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and radio frequency identity (RFID)-to give you real-time visibility into your company's processes. With this visibility, you can reduce time to market, improve quality, and reduce costs.

You can implement an integrated manufacturing network wholesale or incrementally; some companies choose to begin where critical data is widely dispersed, such as the supply chain. A small manufacturer can implement intelligent networked manufacturing with a demand-driven supply chain approach to make its processes so visible that it gains a powerful advantage over much larger competitors.

Consider Adept Technology, which has fewer than 200 employees but has attained leading market share in both the U.S. and EU precision-robot markets. It is implementing a logistics solution based on the Cisco Intelligent Networked Manufacturing strategy to gain the scalability needed for growth worldwide and to create a market differentiator.

"You can appear to be big and highly manageable if your customers can look in and see if you have sufficient supply chain to drive their product," says Lee Blake, Adept's vice president of service operations.