Striving for Sustainability: Meet Ajay

[ad_1] This weblog is a part of our deal with Cisco staff who're “Striving for Sustainability” by discovering alternatives to combine sustainability of their day-to-day work.

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-480387" src="https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2025/10/IMG_9187-scaled.jpeg" alt="A family posing for a photo, with farmland behind them." width="451" height="339" srcset="https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2025/10/IMG_9187-300x225.jpeg 300w, https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2025/10/IMG_9187-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2025/10/IMG_9187-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2025/10/IMG_9187-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2025/10/IMG_9187-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2025/10/IMG_9187-scaled.jpeg 2560w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 451px) 100vw, 451px"/> Ajay together with his household on their ancestral farm in India — the place his first classes in circularity took root. Over the previous a number of years, now we have constructed an engine to realize our aim to include Round Design Rules into 100% of our new merchandise and packaging by fiscal 2025.

One of many key drivers behind this effort is Ajay Ranjith Vempati, Round Design Lead at Cisco. Ajay’s first classes in circularity got here whereas rising up on his mum or dad’s farm in India, the place nothing went to waste; crop residues grew to become animal fodder, manure enriched the soil, and meals scraps returned to fields. His mom carried the identical spirit into every day life: worn-out garments lived many lives as comforters, dusting rags, or doormats whereas milk pouches, newspapers, and books have been rigorously saved for recyclers.

These experiences formed his perception that nothing is ever a waste — solely a useful resource in transition. As we speak, he brings these learnings into his work, embedding circularity into Cisco’s product design. Be taught extra about Ajay’s journey at Cisco:

How did Cisco’s round design journey start and what impressed it? Ajay: Cisco engineers have been embedding sustainability into merchandise and packaging for over a decade. The Round Design program picked up momentum just a few years earlier than I joined. Throughout that point, Cisco introduced some formidable round design objectives, the groups performed product teardowns to know the most important alternative areas, and a gaggle of inner champions helped to create Cisco’s Round Design Rules and a gamified coaching program.

Once I joined Cisco in 2021, my position was to behave as a catalyst: carry folks collectively, simplify and scale the method, and provides engineers instruments to make it their very own. We developed a design scoring mechanism and embedded it into the instruments that Cisco engineers use on daily basis. Then we educated over 7,000 engineers. This may not have been doable with out the wonderful partnerships now we have with leaders and staff members throughout Cisco’s {hardware} engineering and provide chain groups.

What have been some challenges confronted throughout this journey, and the way have been they overcome? Ajay: Certainly one of our largest challenges was determining scale this course of throughout an organization with such numerous merchandise. With lots of of merchandise launched every year, it rapidly grew to become clear that evaluating every product and packaging design manually simply wasn’t possible. That’s once we began to develop IT instruments that will embed the round design analysis immediately into our design course of. By integrating these necessities into instruments our engineering and provide chain groups already use, groups might extra simply undertake circularity with out stepping outdoors their regular workflow.

Management was extremely supportive; they're now accountable for round design identical to they're accountable for price and high quality metrics, and new designs can't be launched to manufacturing till they meet round design standards.

Alongside the technical resolution, we additionally targeted on socialization — ensuring everybody understood what was altering and why. We participated in all-hands and staff conferences and relied on champions inside every enterprise unit to drive adoption. In the end, it was this mixture of strong instruments, management help, and engagement that helped us to scale this system efficiently.

I perceive the engineering groups have embraced round design. Are you able to share an instance of a novel innovation they developed? <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-480511" src="https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2025/10/rsz_product_teardown_img_5826.jpg" alt="A product tear down." width="450" height="337" srcset="https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2025/10/rsz_product_teardown_img_5826-300x225.jpg 300w, https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2025/10/rsz_product_teardown_img_5826-768x576.jpg 768w, https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2025/10/rsz_product_teardown_img_5826.jpg 1008w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px"/> Teardown of C9350 sensible swap in Austin, Texas. Ajay: Sure – one instance traces again to a product teardown we hosted. Whereas disassembling a swap, the staff realized that the performance of the metal enclosure could possibly be maintained even with decreased thickness. This led Cisco to revamp the enclosure of the C9350 sensible swap, leading to materials financial savings and improved effectivity with out compromising efficiency. Through the use of much less metal, we cut back sourcing and transport prices, whereas additionally avoiding the related greenhouse gasoline (GHG) emissions from the manufacturing and transportation of that materials.

To me, this can be a nice instance of innovation and cross-team collaboration. The engineers went past their ordinary scope, engaged with advertising and marketing and prospects, and received everybody on board utilizing one thing just a little totally different — with out impacting the shopper expertise. It actually challenged the mindset of “that is how we’ve at all times completed it.”

We’re experiencing comparable shifts in packaging. Foam was once the usual technique to shield our merchandise, however now we’re seeing packaging designs that eradicate foam and plastic. Persons are pushing previous typical fascinated by what’s doable from a design perspective. It’s not straightforward — there are many stakeholders to interact — however groups are breaking out of their silos to make modifications, and that’s been actually impactful.

How do you see Cisco’s round design efforts benefiting prospects and the broader trade? Ajay: We all know that prospects are more and more in search of merchandise which have decrease environmental footprints and decreased power and upkeep prices. Lots of our prospects — particularly in Europe and amongst Fortune 500 corporations — have their very own sustainability objectives, and so they’re looking for merchandise that assist them meet these requirements.

Our method to round design immediately helps these wants. For our prospects, it means merchandise that use fewer assets, last more, price much less to function, are straightforward to restore or improve, and might be recycled successfully.

On a broader trade degree, what’s distinctive about our method is the way it’s deeply embedded in the best way we design our merchandise and packaging. This isn’t only a pilot or a distinct segment initiative. Round design is now constructed into the event of each new product and packaging at Cisco. We’ve created a mannequin that reveals how design itself could be a catalyst for delivering on sustainability and enterprise objectives at scale — not only for us, however for the complete trade.

What’s subsequent for round design? <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-480409 " src="https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2025/10/Cisco_PinnacleAwards_Ceremony_426.png" alt="A group of Cisco employees accepting an award." width="450" height="300" srcset="https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2025/10/Cisco_PinnacleAwards_Ceremony_426-300x200.png 300w, https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2025/10/Cisco_PinnacleAwards_Ceremony_426-1024x683.png 1024w, https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2025/10/Cisco_PinnacleAwards_Ceremony_426-768x512.png 768w, https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2025/10/Cisco_PinnacleAwards_Ceremony_426-1536x1024.png 1536w, https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2025/10/Cisco_PinnacleAwards_Ceremony_426.png 1839w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px"/> The staff receiving the Pinnacle Award. Ajay: We’re actively increasing and revising our standards by listening to our stakeholders, together with our prospects, staff, regulators, and buyers. We’re updating our Round Design Rules to ensure we’re prepared for the long run. We purpose to maneuver the needle on subjects like utilizing recycled metals, eradicating hazardous supplies, and making our analysis standards extra product-specific — as a result of Cisco’s product variety means there’s no one-size-fits-all method.

We’re additionally elevating the bar for our engineering and design groups. Our preliminary coaching was an awesome basis, however now we’re creating superior, role-specific coaching with real-life examples and sensible instruments that engineers can use of their day-to-day work to include circularity. It’s about transferring past simply telling groups to make use of recycled supplies.We’re exhibiting them how, and what to contemplate within the course of.

I’m genuinely enthusiastic about the place we’re headed. The subsequent section shall be rigorous and require vital effort, however it is going to even be rewarding. Round design isn’t nearly doing good for the surroundings. Through the use of recycled supplies and designing merchandise that last more and are simpler to restore and recycle, we’re making ready to be extra future-ready and resilient from a provide chain perspective, whereas assembly the evolving expectations of stakeholders. In some ways, that is turning into a real enterprise crucial, not only a sustainability aim.