Global Snack Manufacturer Becomes Cyber Resilient While Cutting Production Costs

Companies aren’t doing business the way they used to, and the shift to hybrid work has forced many to become increasingly security resilient or cease operations. The global food market is no exception.

One of our valued customers, Leng-d’Or, was faced with a challenge during the pandemic that could have interrupted its production line, but by some quick thinking, skilled leadership and a close partnership with Cisco they were able to pull through stronger than before.

Leng-d’Or is a Spanish multinational food company, supplying upwards of 800 customers, with 80% of them outside of Spain. I’ve personally tried their snacks – they’re delicious. So you can imagine my relief when I found out we’d be able to help them overcome a significant manufacturing hurdle that could have brought my snack supply to a halt.

The Leng-d’Or story: A pandemic food production problem

The pandemic had an immediate impact on the global economy, and in particular food producers who were already dealing with problems of their own. To compound matters, climate change altered the reliability and supply of raw materials such as corn and flour, so researchers needed to find new ways to update recipes and change formulas.

It had all been going fine for Leng-d’Or, who would send its scientists from Spain to its U.S. facilities several times a year to collaborate in the development of new processes. It was a great system.

And then the pandemic struck. Suddenly, food researchers could no longer get on a plane and be testing the next day. Visibility into the production line, processes and vital manufacturing machines was   blocked. And, even if you could spin up a video call – who’s to say you could do it securely? Webex Expert on Demand at Leng-d’Or is connecting geographically dispersed teams with equipment to achieve improved productivity and higher first-time fix rates while reducing physical travel.

So, you see the problem. We’ll show you how Leng-d’Or partnered with Cisco for a solution.

How Leng-d’Or leveraged Cisco to pivot

Using Cisco SecureX cloud technology, Leng-d’Or was able to deploy an end-to-end security solution that spanned its network, cloud, email, and endpoints, keeping the company up and running as its international supply chain went remote. Then, the company implemented Webex, which enabled its team to collaborate remotely to still test out and manufacture new products in the U.S. (while looking on virtually from Spain).

Leng-d’Or tapped Webex Expert on Demand for RealWear and Cisco Meraki for smart cameras and sensors that allowed them to make real-time changes to their machines – from a different continent. From their Spanish headquarters, they were also able to collaborate with their U.S. counterparts in real- time through the Webex app, exchanging drawings and formulas securely. Cisco technologies are helping Leng-d’Or close the knowledge gap by connecting workers from the factory floor to experts at other locations while allowing them to keep their hands free to work instead of holding a smartphone or tablet.

They could have let pandemic cybersecurity issues disrupt their workforce, but they didn’t. They could have let global travel restrictions slow their scale, but they didn’t. Instead, they employed Cisco solutions that allowed them to not only detect threats up to 90% faster, but also develop products collaboratively in a completely remote environment, continuing New Product Introduction (NPI). The company also noted that, “The cost reduction in travel and time as well as the increase in productivity associated with the project was remarkable.”

We’ll share with you just how they did it by letting them tell the story. Here is our interview with Cisco cybersecurity advocate, Enric Cuixeres, head of information technology at Leng-d’Or. He lends his expertise as a valuable member of our Cisco global customer initiative, Cisco Insider Advocacy.

Outside of business continuity, what would you say the outcome is of using Meraki, RealWear and Webex for Leng-d’Or?

Enric: In addition to traditional video collaboration, we were facing the need to integrate live images as well as very specific views of our machines. To do this, we decided to integrate the video stream of the Meraki MV smart cameras and Webex Expert on Demand in RealWear in a private Cisco Webex room. Thanks to this action, we were able to have a complete global picture of the whole process in real-time.

In addition, we could have eyes on the front line, which showed us very specific images of what we needed. The synchronization of the audio allowed us to have a conversation in real-time with our team in the first line of work. Thanks to this collaboration strategy, it is possible to develop products collaboratively completely remotely.

The cost reduction in travel and time as well as the increase in productivity associated with the project was remarkable. In any case, and since we were in the middle of a pandemic, without this technology we would not have been able to develop these kinds of products.

How does Cisco Secure help you stay competitive and continue the normal flow of work?

Enric: Thanks to Cisco Secure we can now detect a security breach in real-time. Every day, between five and seven inbound emails with malicious URLs were blocked at our perimeter thanks to Cisco Secure Email and Secure Email Phishing Defense.

If the threat comes from a traditional URL or compromised business link, the integration of Cisco SecureX with Cisco Umbrella, Cisco Secure Firewall and Cisco Secure Endpoint gives us real-time visibility into the problem.

Also, thanks to the automation and detection capabilities from Secure Endpoint’s Orbital Advanced Search, we can be proactive in our cybersecurity tasks. Preventing a high-level incident in a big company is an incredibly valuable way to reduce costs.

What are some of the benefits that you have gained from using the Cisco platform?

Enric: Leng-d’Or reduced the time to detect threats by 90% thanks to the single pane of glass provided by Cisco SecureX. During a one-week period, there were between 2-5 confirmed threats blocked.
Along with that between 4-6 malicious URLs from inbound email were blocked, and 2-4 malicious URLs from the Cisco Umbrella virtual appliance or roaming client were blocked during the same period with Cisco SecureX.

The point here is that without Cisco technology, during the pandemic our work would have come to a complete stop.  Developing a new product is a team job. A lot of people from different areas must come together, so Cisco SecureX allowed us to collaborate across borders during COVID and know that we were doing so securely. Thanks to that, our business continued, uninterrupted.

The Leng-d’Or and Cisco partnership

To recap, here’s how Leng-d’Or was able to improve their security architecture to become more resilient:

• SecureX together with Webex empowered Leng-d’Or to be resilient and efficient. The company continued to develop, test, and deliver new products even when their workforce operated remotely.
• Food technologists in Spain used Cisco Webex technology, Webex Expert on Demand for RealWear, assisted reality wearable device provider, and Meraki smart cameras to collaborate on production lines in the U.S. to maintain NPI.
• Workers were able to identify testing and production issues in real-time and suggest solutions (like altering machine settings) remotely.
• Thanks to enabling secure remote processes, development times for future products are expected to reduce significantly.

Leng-d’Or is the story of a great company that used a challenge to come out on top, instead of lagging behind in a time of crisis.  They were able to turn adversities into assets as they took the opportunity to reinvent themselves through new, adaptable processes and secure Cisco technologies that allowed them to find new ways of doing business better.

Using Cisco SecureX, Leng-d’Or was able to secure their intellectual property, enable hybrid work with Cisco’s Webex Expert on Demand, and secure their cloud and edge technologies to transform their infrastructure — and their business.

You can find out more about the Leng-d’Or success story here: https://www.webex.com/customers/leng-dor.html

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