Gartner has released the results of its annual Supply Chain Top 25, identifying supply chain leaders and highlighting their best practices.
Unilever scored the top spot for the third year in a row, followed by Inditex, Cisco, Colgate-Palmolive and Intel.
Home Depot rejoined the ranking after a three-year hiatus, while Novo Nordisk and Adidas joined the Supply Chain Top 25 for the first time.
Longtime supply chain leader and last year’s runner-up McDonald’s joined Apple, P&G and Amazon in qualifying for the “Masters” category, which Gartner introduced in 2015 to recognize sustained leadership over the last 10 years.
Along with the “Masters” category, the Supply Chain Top 25 is designed to offer a platform for insights, learning, debate and contributions to the rising influence of supply chain practices on the global economy.
|
Rank |
Company |
Peer Opinion1 |
Gartner Opinion1 |
Three- |
Inventory Turns3 |
Three- |
CSR Component Score5 |
Composite Score6 |
|
1 |
Unilever |
2,413 |
667 |
10.3% |
7.5 |
2.6% |
10.00 |
6.36 |
|
2 |
Inditex |
1,254 |
345 |
16.5% |
3.9 |
10.9% |
10.00 |
4.85 |
|
3 |
Cisco Systems |
785 |
541 |
7.9% |
13.1 |
-0.4% |
10.00 |
4.41 |
|
4 |
Colgate-Palmolive |
898 |
324 |
17.6% |
5.1 |
-2.2% |
10.00 |
4.40 |
|
5 |
Intel |
831 |
499 |
8.9% |
3.6 |
4.8% |
10.00 |
4.36 |
|
6 |
Nike |
1,349 |
270 |
17.4% |
3.8 |
6.8% |
6.00 |
4.25 |
|
7 |
Nestlé |
1,326 |
426 |
6.4% |
4.8 |
-0.2% |
10.00 |
4.21 |
|
8 |
PepsiCo |
1,094 |
391 |
7.3% |
8.8 |
-0,6% |
10.00 |
3.99 |
|
9 |
H&M |
760 |
193 |
18.1% |
2.8 |
7.8% |
10.00 |
3.96 |
|
10 |
Starbucks |
1,040 |
186 |
20.4% |
11.8 |
9.2% |
4.00 |
3.85 |
|
11 |
3M |
783 |
198 |
14.0% |
4.1 |
1.4% |
10.00 |
3.56 |
|
12 |
Schneider Electric |
737 |
410 |
4.8% |
5.2 |
-0.5% |
10.00 |
3.55 |
|
13 |
Novo Nordisk |
121 |
49 |
37.9% |
1.2 |
5.3% |
10.00 |
3.37 |
|
14 |
HP Inc. |
390 |
354 |
7.3% |
8.4 |
0.2% |
10.00 |
3.30 |
|
15 |
L’Oréal |
999 |
210 |
9.6% |
2.9 |
4.6% |
8.00 |
3.26 |
|
16 |
Diageo |
651 |
227 |
9.2% |
1.0 |
7.6% |
10.00 |
3.25 |
|
17 |
Samsung Electronics |
907 |
117 |
10.7% |
14.6 |
9.8% |
9.00 |
3.22 |
|
18 |
Johnson & Johnson |
880 |
322 |
6.2% |
2.7 |
2.8% |
6.00 |
3.08 |
|
19 |
BASF |
470 |
281 |
6.9% |
4.4 |
-0.5% |
10.00 |
3.02 |
|
20 |
Walmart |
1,416 |
256 |
6.2% |
8.3 |
1.6% |
3.00 |
2.98 |
|
21 |
Kimberly-Clark |
619 |
133 |
13.6% |
6.7 |
-1.6% |
8.00 |
2.96 |
|
22 |
The Coca Cola Co. |
1,558 |
221 |
4.6% |
4.8 |
-10.1% |
4.00 |
2.87 |
|
23 |
Home Depot |
431 |
78 |
18.6% |
5.1 |
6.7% |
5.00 |
2.81 |
|
24 |
Adidas |
821 |
115 |
6.8% |
2.9 |
13.5% |
7.00 |
2.58 |
|
25 |
BMW |
679 |
118 |
4.1% |
4.2 |
6.0% |
10.00 |
2.45 |
“2018 is the 14th consecutive year, we are publishing the Supply Chain Top 25 ranking,” said Stan Aronow, research vice president at Gartner. “The ranking consists of an impressive group of leaders with valuable lessons to share, including three recent entrants from the life sciences, retail and consumer products sectors.
“Looking back at 2017, we experienced a year of healthy growth, despite heated trade rhetoric. Now, in 2018, protectionism is spreading in response to announced moves by the U.S. and the U.K., among others. This has led many organizations to re-evaluate the location strategy for their supply networks. We also see strong growth constraining available supply in many geographies, increasing the cost of logistics and labor. The most advanced supply chains are proactively managing these risks and continue to post solid performances.
Gartner says Unilever has a strong supply chain brand, which is reflected by its top-tier opinion poll score. It also received a perfect 10 for corporate social responsibility (CSR).
“The Dutch consumer products leader is making big bets in the digitization of its supply chain,” said Aronow. “A key initiative is robotic process automation (RPA) supporting the order-to-cash process, run from its regional service control towers. Its more than 20 ‘bots’ have already automated hundreds of processes, with a roadmap for hundreds more.”
