25 Best Run Global Supply Chains

1 comment August 8th, 2007 David Bush - Iasta

As a followup to Monday’s post about AMR research data, the same firm recently released its 2007 awards for the best run supply chains in the world. This is pretty much the who’s who of the most sophisticated sourcing departments too, which should not come as a surprise.

1 Nokia – As a pioneer in value chain strategy, Nokia has led in supplier development, S&OP, and collaborative product development.

2 Apple – Apple’s unparalleled demand-shaping capability lets its supply chain record spectacular results without sweating costs like everyone else.

3 Procter & Gamble — By swallowing Gillette, P&G proved that a dominant, demand-driven value chain creates lasting corporate power.

4 IBM – IBM, which has led the demand-driven revolution within its own manufacturing, has been instrumental in the use of IT for many other Top 25 companies.

5 Toyota Motor – Becoming the world’s No. 1 automaker through lean manufacturing, Toyota has closed the chapter forever on Henry Ford’s 20th century Model T philosophy of “any color you want as long as it’s black.”

6 Wal-Mart Stores – Wal-Mart’s leadership in supply chain is more than just everyday low prices—its technology investments have broken new ground in demand sensing and process design.

7 Anheuser-Busch – Having risen in our rankings each of the last three years, AB demonstrates the power of downstream consumer data to the value chain.

8 Tesco – Tesco innovates aggressively in store operations and beyond, positioning itself as a global power in the consolidating grocery sector.

9 Best Buy – Between private-label initiatives, home service innovations, and cutting-edge experiments with in-store uses of RFID, Best Buy is a pioneer of demand-driven principles.

10 Samsung Electronics – Samsung’s processes leverage technology brilliantly. With explicit CEO sponsorship, the supply chain organization has tremendous influence on corporate strategy.

11 Cisco Systems – As one of the first technology giants to use contract manufacturing extensively, Cisco has a deep understanding of the networked value chain.

12 Motorola – Motorola’s supply chain leadership has driven huge change and improvement in its operations. With a CEO looking here for a competitive edge, the premium on demonstrating excellence is high.

13 The Coca-Cola Company – As the world’s most valuable brand, Coke has an advantage, and its efforts to improve supply chain performance are in the spotlight as brand leverage coupled with stellar operations promise big returns to shareholders.

14 Johnson & Johnson – J&J has traditionally relied on superior products that command premium prices to deliver top results. As the world shifts from supply chain to value chain, we may find J&J already there.

15 PepsiCo – PepsiCo’s pioneering use of supply chain planning technologies plus its sophisticated product innovation make for excellent financials, including an impressive 18.8% ROA.

16 Johnson Controls – As a direct supplier to Toyota, JCI has learned a lot about demand-driven manufacturing. That it is able to extend this back into engineering shows how deeply the strategy is understood.

17 Texas Instruments – An early user of constrained optimization in supply chain planning, TI continues to advance with strong customer collaboration.

18 Nike – Like Apple, Nike uses brand and design to create value that supersedes cost efficiency in the eyes of both the consumer and shareholder. Rigorous supply chain processes, however, allow the company to weather fashion turns with minimal disruption.

19 Lowe’s – Lowe’s emphasizes the shopping experience for consumers but manages to keep supplier relations very strong. Demand visibility helps both at retail and upstream in the supply chain.

20 GlaxoSmithKline – By riding a strong product portfolio, GSK is delivering excellent financials. By investing some of this gain back into packaging and manufacturing processes, it is also positioning itself for the future.

21 Hewlett-Packard – HP has digested Compaq very successfully, managed a high-profile CEO change to great effect, and even taken the lead in greening the global supply chain. Welcome back to the Top 25.

22 Lockheed Martin – With pioneering innovations like performance based logistics, Lockheed has taken advantage of favorable market conditions with the first truly demand-driven defense industry supply chain.

23 Publix Super Markets – Still a relatively quiet and private company, Publix makes our rankings with excellent financial results. Proactive disaster preparedness strategies hint at the sophistication of its strategic thinking.

24 Paccar – Virtually unknown to the peer opinion panel, Paccar comes in at No. 24 with not only excellent but extremely balanced supply chain performance. Our benchmarking work shows that balance is what really separates the best from the rest. Watch Paccar in the future.

25 AstraZeneca – Like GSK, AstraZeneca benefits from financial results that shine. Less known but more instructive is its early, successful foray into supply network modeling—an effort that has contributed hundreds of millions to the bottom line.

AMR also added — Companies on the AMR list exhibit definite IT patterns. They do not spare the IT investment, but they are very careful about how they spend it. None depends entirely on packaged suite applications. A great company very likely will run SAP or Oracle, but it will not run it wall-to-wall, according to O’Marah.

“Supply chain leaders invest in IT to meet specific operational requirements of the business,” he says.

Sounds like a ringing endorsement of the Best of Breed philosophy to me.

Entry Filed under: Analysts/Research, General, Supply Management Best Practices