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Enterasys Networks

Gold Stevie Award Winner 2012, Click to Enter The 2014 American Business Awards

Company: Enterasys Networks, Salem, NH
Company Description: Enterasys Networks is a global provider of award winning Networking infrastructure solutions for wired, wireless and network security applications. Through the use of advanced cloud based tools Enterasys has unlocked the value of strong corporate culture, empowered employees and dynamic processes. Recognized as one of Boston’s best places to work.
Nomination Category: Products & Product Management Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Product Development/Management Department or Team of the Year

Nomination Title: Manufacturing Excellence - Automated Robotic Optical Inspection

Tell the story about what this nominated department or team achieved since January 1 2012 (up to 525 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Enterasys Networks is a 100% outsourced manufacturing operation where continuous improvement methodology is a key driver for improving product  realized customers were experiencing simple mechanical defects (escaping the manufacturing facilities).  Defects such as missing screws, incorrect  customers, and could result in serious customer dissatisfaction if a product installation is disrupted. When the “easy” stuff is not right it puts the rest of the product in question.  Prior to the introduction of the Mechanical  Assembly Optical Inspection (MAOI) system, the process for containing these defects relied on human manual visual inspection.         

Analyzing the current process, inspection step at the end of the manufacturing process:        

-100% of the products receive a manual inspection entailing ~60 inspection points at CQA       
-Checklists used for manual visual inspection are problematic and time consuming (~10 min per unit)               
- ~140 hrs. per year downtime on Test equipment due to “pin virus”   (Pin virus occurs when a connector pin gets damaged in the test equipment and it damages each subsequent unit under test until detected)       

Our products are highly complex electronic assemblies containing an average of 40,000 defect opportunities per product, including an average of 250 mechanical assembly components. The solution was to design a tool that would provide a repeatable and reliable inspection for end-of-line attributes.         

There was no tool on the market with the capabilities to inspect and be tailored to Enterasys’ complex products and inspection requirements. The team designed and developed a highly flexible automated optical inspection system with a smart camera mounted to the end of a robot arm which takes pictures of the entire assembly and performs real-time analysis to identify assembly  mistakes, and/or component damage of manufactured product at the end of the assembly process, right before the product is packaged. This kind of system is unique in the electronics assembly industry. It performs a thorough mechanical assembly inspection where the pass or fail result will display on the machine interface monitor and the images taken will be stored in a Paperless report per unit serial number.        

At Enterasys, we live by our motto “There is nothing more important than our customers”.  We strive to provide the best quality and highest performing products. The first MAOI system was deployed in Romania in January 2013 and it supports the following business goals:        

    • Customer Satisfaction

  - Increase customer satisfaction on first time product installation       

 - Reduce Dead on Arrival (DOA) return rates and associated warranty  reserves  

  - Improve customer perception of Enterasys products by eliminating simple mechanical defects         

   •  Product Quality Improvements    

- Rapid feedback and repair        

- Reduce mechanical inspection time from 10 min to 2 min and with 100% repeatability and reliability       

  - Improved data collection and objective evidence for defects at CQA  by capturing the images of the attributes failing the specification to aid root cause analysis and preventive action       

   •  Reduction on return rates and repair costs

 - 4% return rate reduction (elimination of mechanical defects traditionally caught in the field)       

 - >$185K estimated annual reduction in return and repair costs

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Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the leader(s) of the team that developed this nominated product or service:

Brad W. Martin, Vice President of Engineering Operations and Quality for Enterasys Networks.  Enterasys is the Network Infrastructure and Security business unit of Siemens Enterprise Communications.  Martin is responsible for global engineering services, program management, manufacturing technology, corporate quality and continuous improvement programs.  Martin’s teams support and ensure the highest standards in product quality, architecting the manufacturing technology road map for the most reliable and cost effective global manufacturing model, and driving corporate programs through the Product Lifecycle Management Processes.

Martin joined Enterasys in 2000, has held multiple senior-level management positions.  Martin earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maine and was recently recognized with a Continuous Improvement Leadership Award