CISCO Supply Chain

Supply Chain Management - A

Group 10
School of Business Management, NMIMS

Submitted to:
Prof. Rose Anthony
Professor, SBM NMIMS

Submitted By:
Nitish Adlakha E002
Moutushi Banerjee E009
Candace Majella Jacob E028
Vansh Parikh E052
Ashutosh Singh H055
Arpit Gwal I024
CISCO distribution network mapping

CISCOs hardware portfolio can be broadly classified into two –

1. Customized routers for business clients and other big clients
2. Generic routers which are sold to the customers through retail outlets

Customized Routers follow In-Transit Merge Network where the orders are placed in the
ordering centers of CISCO. The clients are usually big-ticket clients and the orders are for
business routers which are customized to fit the client’s requirements. The routers are all
configured-to-order (CTO)

There is no demand uncertainty as the manufacture is done only after the order is received.

Ordering
Centre
CISCO
Figure. A typical network diagram for an In-transit merge network

In the case of the generic routers there is no demand uncertainty and it uses retail storage
with customer pickup

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 CISCO

This method is used because the generic routers are an item which are ordered by the
customers at retail outlets. In India the retail outlet could be a reliance digital or a chroma
showroom. The demand for routers is calculated with high levels of accuracy and the model
is followed with the least amount of inventory stock.

CISCO’s hybrid push-pull system

CISCO has a sourcing of elements, the metals which are required remain fairly common across
the products which are offered by CISCO. CISCO ranks high as a vendor employer and has no
trouble finding supply sources. The supplier interaction of CISCO follows a push strategy
based on rough estimates of how the market growth is and the past requirement. They have
put in place a system helping them identify vendors who are best suited for their requirement.

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 Figure: Cisco’s Hybrid push-pull strategy

When it comes to the manufacturers and customers CISCO follows two different strategies for
both of its products. For customised routers it follows a pull strategy. The demand for these
units of CISCO is lower than that of the generic model and the cost involved in production of
these models are also high. Hence very low or no inventory is maintained for these products.
In the case of the generic router CISCO has a solid demand which has caused CISCO to expand
the scale of production rapidly. This has in turn given CISCO returns as economies of scale.
This follows a push strategy where the demand is calculated by the cumulative demands of
the retailers and other vendors who are in charge if the sale of this product

Supply Chain Strategic Fit

Cisco has made huge efforts into building a resilient and sustainable supply chain. The major
products of Cisco in the hardware sector is Routers and Data Servers. Routers are of two kinds,
the simple router and optical service router.

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General routers have certain demand and being a general consumer product, focusses on cost
efficiency. On the other hand, optical service routers are specialised routers, made-to-order
products. For this the demand is not that certain and hence Cisco needs a responsive system
in order to distribute the product as soon as possible once the order has been made. Data
Servers is largely a B2B product, and hence the orders given are in bulk quantities. This
involves quite a bit of uncertainty as the order is only placed as an when requirement arises
or management pushes for organisational transformation. Hence the product needs to be
responsive in its supply chain.

Internal and External Vulnerabilities:

Cisco does not have its manufacturing capacity and outsources its product demands to
Electronic Manufacturing Service providers, who then send it to hub operators, who forward
it to suppliers, etc. Due to this their supply chain spans over the entire globe, making it highly
vulnerable to external risks such as government regulatory changes in one of their countries
of operations, natural disasters, etc.

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The products data servers and data servers mainly focus on cost efficiency. Thus, its very
important for the supply chain to be lean and economical. This makes it vulnerable to internal
risks. The optical service routers have a supply chain more responsive in nature and hence is
flexible to risks in the supply chain, making it less prone to internal vulnerability.

The products data servers and data servers mainly focus on cost efficiency. Thus, it’s very
important for the supply chain to be lean and economical. This makes it vulnerable to internal
risks. The optical service routers have a supply chain more responsive in nature and hence is
flexible to risks in the supply chain, making it less prone to internal vulnerability.