Among the most anticipated announcements coming from last week's Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference in Phoenix, AZ, was the annual “Supply Chain Top 25,” which identifies and highlights industry leaders.
Colgate-Palmolive scored the top spot in the ranking for the first time, followed by Inditex, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Cisco. Chinese e-commerce company, Alibaba, and Dutch chemical company, Akzo Nobel, joined the Supply Chain Top 25 for the first time.
“Colgate-Palmolive's strong financial performance, combined with its focus on an aligned organization and impressive work in corporate social responsibility, helped drive the move up from the fourth position in 2018 to the top spot in 2019,” says vice president, analyst at Gartner, Mike Griswold. “The company is focused on building a business-first mindset enabled by new technologies, enhanced decision-making and leadership capabilities.”
After seven consecutive years of scoring in the top five of the Supply Chain Top 25, Unilever joined Apple, P&G, Amazon and McDonald's in the “Masters” category, which Gartner introduced in 2015 to recognize sustained leadership over the last 10 years.
“Unilever continues to lead the way with solid digital supply chain processes and operations, including leveraging automation, data science and machine learning,” says Griswold. “The company also recognizes the importance of improving digital-enabled manufacturing initiatives by using emerging technologies for maintenance and process control.”
Steve Dowse is Senior Vice President, Product Management for Blume Global, told SCMR in an interview that leading industry players are leveraging “big data” to drill down to “domain expertise.”
“This kind of process keeps the supply chain manager from being overwhelmed with information,” he says. “This is particularly true when it comes to financial settlement.” Blume Global, a digital supply chain consultancy and provider, was recognized by Gartner in its “Market Guide for Real-Time Visibility Providers” earlier this year.
Table 1. The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 for 2019
|
Rank |
Company |
Peer Opinion1 |
Gartner Opinion1 |
Three- |
Inventory Turns3 |
Three- |
CSR Component Score5 |
Composite Score6 |
|
1 |
961 |
347 |
19.9% |
5.0 |
-0.2% |
10.00 |
4.88 |
|
|
2 |
1,091 |
341 |
16.2% |
3.8 |
6.5% |
10.00 |
4.80 |
|
|
3 |
1,262 |
374 |
6.9% |
4.8 |
1.2% |
10.00 |
4.27 |
|
|
4 |
997 |
368 |
11.7% |
9.0 |
1.2% |
8.00 |
4.22 |
|
|
5 |
699 |
518 |
4.0% |
10.2 |
0.7% |
10.00 |
4.13 |
|
|
6 |
576 |
454 |
12.4% |
3.7 |
9.6% |
6.00 |
4.12 |
|
|
7 |
293 |
353 |
11.7% |
8.2 |
7.3% |
10.00 |
3.81 |
|
|
8 |
737 |
348 |
7.6% |
3.1 |
5.8% |
10.00 |
3.80 |
|
|
9 |
900 |
167 |
19.3% |
12.7 |
9.0% |
4.00 |
3.74 |
|
|
10 |
1,194 |
186 |
13.3% |
3.9 |
6.0% |
4.00 |
3.73 |
|
|
11 |
677 |
256 |
5.4% |
4.9 |
0.7% |
10.00 |
3.71 |
|
|
12 |
Diageo |
625 |
404 |
9.8% |
0.9 |
4.3% |
10.00 |
3.44 |
|
13 |
Alibaba |
1,095 |
72 |
10.6% |
23.4 |
52.6% |
0.00 |
3.43 |
|
14 |
Walmart |
1,415 |
268 |
4.6% |
8.6 |
2.5% |
5.00 |
3.40 |
|
15 |
L’Oréal |
858 |
229 |
9.9% |
2.7 |
3.6% |
8.00 |
3.38 |
|
16 |
H&M |
582 |
155 |
13.7% |
2.7 |
5.1% |
10.00 |
3.35 |
|
17 |
3M |
597 |
192 |
14.3% |
3.8 |
3.2% |
8.00 |
3.34 |
|
18 |
Novo Nordisk |
86 |
54 |
36.4% |
1.1 |
0.8% |
10.00 |
3.31 |
|
19 |
Home Depot |
402 |
124 |
22.2% |
5.0 |
7.0% |
5.00 |
3.29 |
|
20 |
Coca Cola Company |
1,329 |
196 |
5.8% |
4.2 |
-10.7% |
6.00 |
3.13 |
|
21 |
Samsung Electronics |
748 |
83 |
13.2% |
9.8 |
8.7% |
7.00 |
3.05 |
|
22 |
BASF. |
597 |
252 |
6.4% |
3.9 |
-0.6% |
8.00 |
2.89 |
|
23 |
Adidas |
714 |
172 |
9.2% |
3.2 |
7.9% |
5.00 |
2.75 |
|
24 |
Akzo Nobel |
137 |
0 |
20.9% |
4.6 |
-8.6% |
8.00 |
2.61 |
|
25 |
BMW |
733 |
131 |
3.8% |
3.8 |
1.3% |
10.00 |
2.57 |
SC
MR
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Patrick Burnson, Executive Editor
Patrick is a widely-published writer and editor specializing in international trade, global logistics, and supply chain management. He is based in San Francisco, where he provides a Pacific Rim perspective on industry trends and forecasts. He may be reached at his downtown office: [email protected].
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