Venture Outsource talked with Iqbal Dar, Ph.D., senior director, operations engineering with Ciena Corporation. Transcripts from that discussion follow.
VO: Inaccurate documentation is one of the primary reasons often cited by EMS providers for EMS provider delays in ramping OEM programs, on-time. What measures does Ciena Corporation take to ensure its EMS partners are provided accurate product documentation, the first time?
Dar: At Ciena, all product; process, and test-related documentation is kept under Configuration Management Control using an Agile application. Ciena provides access to the application to each of our EMS partners so they can download the latest documentation. This structured environment helps to insure our EMS partners have the latest documentation version instead of allowing uncontrolled versions, or copies, of the documentation to circulate freely.
An EMS partner’s Agile access is established at the onset of a project for any product transfer to that particular EMS partner.
VO: When you visit an EMS provider on-site, which top three things do you visually look for when walking their factory floor and, why? (i.e., evidence of factory good housekeeping, evidence of an organized materials flow)
Dar: I personally look for evidence of process and data controls on the factory floor as well as compliance to quality systems such as ESD control; documentation control, clearly visible work and process instructions, and test equipment calibration compliance.
I also look for how much material is on the factory floor and how the material is tracked through various assembly processes; what is the size of the debug (i.e., trouble-shoot pile) and, if the factory floor is organized in a manner which facilitates ease of material flow.
Lastly, I look for any evidence of continuous process improvement initiatives that have been recently implemented. These observations help me to assess if an EMS provider is actually doing what they present as some of the capabilities in their slide presentations. It’s also important to try and note how efficiently material is processed across, or through, the factory floor and if the EMS provider truly values the concept of continuous process improvement.
VO: What steps does Ciena take to ensure its EMS partners drive internal EMS issues through a proper root cause analysis and, corrective action responses (CAR) are developed in a timely manner, to help drive issues to resolution?
Dar: Ciena’s quality functional group employees work closely with our EMS partners to determine root cause analysis and corrective action implementations. If, and when, issues requiring root cause analysis and/or corrective action, are identified, Ciena issues a Supplier Corrective Action Response (SCAR) to the EMS partner which then prompts the EMS partner to provide an immediate written response.
SCAR status and progress is actively tracked during weekly meetings with EMS partners. Any corrective action response required on the part of the EMS partner is monitored; checked, and verified during periodic audits of the EMS partner.
VO: If Ciena had to choose only one metric for measuring the performance of its OEM-EMS partner relationship, which metric would Ciena select and, why?
Dar: Typically, Ciena measures performance of its EMS partners on a monthly basis and Ciena provides each partner with a Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) score. The CSI score is a composite score covering five categories: quality; delivery & responsiveness, communication, service & flexibility and, technical support.
If forced to select only one metric for measuring performance, On-Time-Delivery to EMS Commit Date would be the metric of choice. Obviously, products would have to meet all quality and functionality requirements.
VO: Given an opportunity to live anywhere in the world for a few years, where would you choose?
Dar: I would like to live in Switzerland, close to the Alps where I can ski all winter long and engage in hiking and backpacking during summer months.
VO: Thank you, Iqbal.
Dar: You’re welcome. Thank you.
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VentureOutsource.com, July 2006
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