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Collaboration
Expert Collaboration 
Dynamic Access to Distributed Expertise Will Shape Successful Enterprises Read
Accelerating Lean Productivity with Immersive Collaboration
Team-based, collaborative problem-solving initiatives are often hampered by limited time and budget to bring together globally dispersed teams Cisco IBSG proposes an immersive, interactive virtual environment to facilitate collaboration and overcome the challenges of time, distance, and limited resources.
Active Collaboration Room
CiscoTelePresence with other collaboration components, business models are transformed by accelerating distributed team performance and productivity.
ICT Integration
China's Electronics Industry: A Roadmap for Increasing Business Value Through Collaboration and ICT
Analyzing current manufacturing challenges in China. Three collaborative business models are discussed: production, innovation, and customer value.
High-Tech Industry: The Road to Profitability Through Global Integration and Collaboration
Companies need to assess and improve their business capabilities - requiring visionary leadership; executive sponsorship
Connected Vehicles
A Business Case for Connected Vehicles
Executive Summary of the Business Case for Connected Vehicles
Connected Vehicles—Automotive
From Building Cars to Selling Personal Travel Time Well-Spent
Connected Vehicles and Government
A Catalyst To Unlock the Societal Benefits of Transportation
Connected Vehicles—Insurance
The Business of Preventing Crashes
Connected Vehicles—Service Providers
Service Providers at a Crossroads
Cisco IBSG's latest thought leadership for the manufacturing industry, featuring proven solutions to daunting business challenges—and the roadmap for achieving success.
Expert Collaboration
Dynamic Access to Distributed Expertise Will Shape Successful Enterprises
Smart and Connected Passenger Vehicles
Explore how pervasive connectivity will fundamentally change the automotive landscape.
Active Collaboration Room
CiscoTelePresence with other collaboration components, business models are transformed by accelerating distributed team performance and productivity.
China's Electronics Industry: A Roadmap for Increasing Business Value Through Collaboration and ICT Integration
Analyzing current manufacturing challenges in China. Three collaborative business models are discussed: production, innovation, and customer value.
High-Tech Industry: The Road to Profitability Through Global Integration and Collaboration
Companies need to assess and improve their business capabilities - requiring visionary leadership; executive sponsorship
Smart Industrialization: An Integrated Approach to Increasing Value of Downstream Oil and Petrochemical Investments
This Point of View highlights how smart industrialization can transform industrial economic development, increasing the value of integrated refining and petrochemical manufacturing investments.
Future Vision: The Next Revolution in Production Operations
This paper explores how next-generation information and communication technologies are impacting complex, virtualized operations in industries such as the military.
A Business Case for Connected Vehicles
Executive Summary of the Business Case for Connected Vehicles
Connected Vehicles—Automotive
From Building Cars to Selling Personal Travel Time Well-Spent
Connected Vehicles and Government
A Catalyst To Unlock the Societal Benefits of Transportation
Connected Vehicles—Insurance
The Business of Preventing Crashes
Connected Vehicles—Service Providers
Service Providers at a Crossroads
Recent examples of Cisco IBSG's highly successful engagements with key players throughout the manufacturing industry. Each "success story" describes how Cisco IBSG’s guidance enabled the customer to address specific challenges and achieve significant business impact.
Toyota Streamlines Business Processes, Boosts Productivity by 18 Percent
Cisco IBSG improves the productivity of knowledge workers at Toyota by analyzing business processes, eliminating unproductive work, and introducing communications and collaboration technologies.
Cisco IBSG Develops Active Collaboration Environment for Global Manufacturing Giant
Cisco technologies provide a new efficient way for workgroups to collaborate resulting in increased productivity and reduced development costs and business travel expense.
Endesa - Engagement Snapshot
Collaboration with ENDESA Technology Innovation Group to address the benefits of adopting radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for asset tracking and management. Key trends and best practices from Cisco's manufacturing customer supply chains are detailed.
Nagoya Toyopet
Nagoya Toyopet Improves Productivity and Customer Satisfaction with Integrated Cisco Unified Communications.
Manufacturing Practice Overview
The Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) Global Manufacturing Practice helps Fortune 500 manufacturing companies across the industry understand the tremendous business benefits of effective information and communications technology strategies. Our areas of focus are:
Aerospace and Defense
CEOs in aerospace and defense are focused on turning existing operations into value-added solutions, driving innovation and finding new sources of revenue through networked businesses that accelerate internal and external collaboration and real-time decision making, and enhance core process areas.
Automotive
Globalization, the credit meltdown, emphasis on "green" vehicles, and the global recession, have put tremendous pressure on the auto industry. The industry faces many challenges going forward, including competing with new OEMs, reinventing business models, sharing ownership for joint initiatives, and investing in new technologies.
High Technology
The high-tech industry’s reputation for being dynamic continues as companies increasingly globalize and quicken the pace of innovation. Increased dependency on industry partners and the fast pace of changes in customer demands present a unique set of challenges and opportunities for high-tech companies.
Industrial
Rapid globalization is driving change for companies in the industrial systems industry. Furthermore, the combination of large government stimulus packages and continued growth in emerging countries has led to large-scale increase in new infrastructure projects for these businesses.
Energy and Utilities
The energy and utilities industries face many challenges, including global demand for more natural resources, shrinking workforces, tougher government regulations on CO2 emissions, and increased financial investments in operations upgrades.
Our Practice Lead
Dirk Schlesinger
Senior Director
Manufacturing
IBSG
Dirk Schlesinger is senior director of the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) Global Manufacturing Practice. He combines his background in aeronautical and astronautical engineering and cross-industry consulting with his passion for life-long learning to help Cisco IBSG customers find "real product-based solutions" that solve their critical business issues. "I like knowing that when I work with a customer, I'm leaving them with a real solution to their issues, more than just a set of recommendations."
Schlesinger's work experience is broad-ranging. For example, while a vice president and director with the Boston Consulting Group, he worked with utility customers, encountering the concept of the Smart Grid, an IP-enabled platform that facilitates large-scale inclusion of renewable energy sources. His work on Smart Grid turned into a Cisco market adjacency that after two years became a Cisco business unit.
In addition to leading the Global Manufacturing team, Schlesinger also leads a cross-disciplinary, cross-Cisco team focused on Smart Vehicles, an initiative that looks at the many ways that networking technology can be applied to the vehicle on the road.
Meet Our Team Leaders
Tony Court - Energy and Utilities
Marc Girardot - Automotive
Arun Saksena - Global Hi-Tech
Kevin Sullivan - Industrial and Diversified Manufacturing
News
Smart Mobility Management:
Networking& CommunicationElektronikNet:
Automation in the CloudPress Release:
Mahindra and Cisco to Collaborate in Areas Such as Smart Cities, Virtual Dealership, Sports and Entertainment, and Cloud ServicesCarScoop:
The Upgradeable Car: A Software Influenced Future for the Auto IndustryNew York Times: Pursuing Cars That Won't Be Outdated
Cisco's experimental design adds "drag and drop" functionality to the dashboard.Bloomberg: Cisco's 'Chief Futurist' Seeking Smarter Products
Broadening the horizons for executives on the "art of the possible..."News@Cisco: Collaboration Technologies Power Events With Greater Reach and Lower Costs