Unilever consolidates position as top supply chain

Gartner’s annual Supply Chain Top 25 has identified Unilever as the top supply chain industry leader for the third year.

Inditex is in second place and Cisco Systems in third. McDonald’s is no longer featured as it has been moved into the Master’s category with Apple, P&G and Amazon.

2017 results showed healthy growth, despite heated trade rhetoric and now, “in 2018, protectionism is spreading in response to announced moves by the US and the UK, among others. This has led many organisations to re-evaluate the location strategy for their supply networks,” said Gartner research vice president Stan Arrow.

The results demonstrate “strong growth constraining available supply in many geographies, increasing the cost of logistics and labour. The most advanced supply chains are proactively managing these risks and continue to post solid performances,” said Arrow.

Gartner’s scoring system relies heavily on opinions – 25 per cent of the total score is down to peer opinion, while another 25 per cent is Gartner opinion. The rest of the scores come from four generally available metrics: return on assets, inventory turns, revenue growth and CSR. The most significant of these is the Three Year Weighted Return on Assets, accounting for 20 per cent of the total score.

Gartner’s Top 25 Supply Chains 2018 (versus last year):

1. Unilever (1)
2. Inditex (3)
3. Cisco Systems (4)
4. Colgate-Palmolive (9)
5. Intel (6)
6. Nike (8)
7. Nestlé (7)
8. PepsiCo (11)
9. H&M (5)
10. Starbucks (10)
11. 3M (12)
12. Schneider Electric (17)
13. Novo Nordisk (-)
14. HP Inc. (19)
15. L’Oréal (20)
16. Diageo (23)
17. Samsung Electronics (25)
18. Johnson & Johnson (13)
19. BASF (16)
20. Walmart (18)
21. Kimberly-Clark (21)
22. The Coca Cola Co. (14)
23. Home Depot (-)
24. Adidas (-)
25. BMW (22)

Source: Gartner, 2018