Just about every year at this time, supply chain teams can look forward to AMR Research’s (now Gartner) designation of the Top 25 Supply Chains. Similar to entertainers and recording artists having their Oscars, Emmy Awards and Grammy’s, there is the Top 25 supply chain designation that can be instrumental in a career journey.  Just as awards can provide recognition of the obvious, as well as surprises, so also is this year’s line-up.

First, Supply Chain Matters extends its congratulations to all of the 25 designees, as well as the finalists in the 2011 competition.  Quantitative and qualitative recognition for hard work, long hours, commitment and determination is always important.

In the spirit of the many entertainment shows, we will now share our Supply Chain Matters post award reactions of this year’s Top 25 designees.

Overall Listing

The overall list itself has many familiar names and global brands. It would be nice for one year to have a small or mid-market company make the listing.  Outsourcing the major portions of your supply chain provides a high ROA, and that can get your company a good shot for making it on the list. Speaking of effects outsourcing, once again, there is no presence from major process manufacturers (BASF, Dupont, Dow Chemical) and that remains a disappointment.  A lack of recognition of any major global contract manufacturer, those that own the majority of production and in some cases process design assets (Foxconn, Fextronics, Jabil) also remains disappointing.  While the overall list has some non-U.S. names such as Samsung and Inditex, it should include other capable names as well.

Perhaps there should be some added categories like:

Best effort in undergoing supply chain transformation or

Best supplier supporting role in bailing out a global OEM during a supply chain crisis such as the Japan earthquake.

The Coveted Number One Designation

Number one designee Apple had to be the obvious choice, as demonstrated by its very high composite score.  No other designee came close.  We are not alone in commenting on all the superior aspects of Apple’s broad supply chain capabilities and accomplishments.  The only comment to add is that being a repeat number one comes with continued responsibilities to lead and set the benchmarks in areas such as social responsibility, sustainability efforts, and openness.

Sound bites for the top-tier designees:

#2 Dell: Up three slots from last year, but not by much.  P&G merits this slot.

#3 P&G:  The obvious choice, always consistent performer and benchmark.

#4 Research-In Motion: Up 5 slots and in a very competitive field.

#5 Amazon: Up 5 slots and well deserved.  A demonstration that one can make the list with lower ROA.

In the category of rising stars:

#13 Colgate-Palmolive: Up 4 slots with better quantitative results than industry peer P&G.

#15 Unilever: Up a whopping 6 slots, also with better quantitative results with P&G.

In the category of new entrants:

#18 Nestle: It’s about time.

#24 3M: Significant achievement considering the diversity of products and supply chain needs.

#25 Kraft: Well-deserved and overdue for recognition

In the category of surprises:

#6 Cisco: Dropped 3 slots from last year.  Major re-organization underway to reduce management layers and speed decision-making.  Will Cisco’s supply chain be impacted?

#21 Johnson & Johnson: Dropped 7 slots and is still in the midst of non-stop product recalls brought about by lapses in quality.  Does being under watch by the FDA qualify as a Top 25 criteria?  Since J&J was the only life sciences company to be in the top 25, we have to categorize this one as a disappointment.  Perhaps there needs to be a category of “on-probation”.

#22 Starbucks: New entrant in the Top 25 with a rather low Gartner opinion vote.  Retail coffee distribution was outsourced to #25 Kraft before this year’s brew ha-ha and termination.  Next year will be the retention test.

There you go, our Supply Chain Matters post award musings for theTop 25.

What about your reactions and opinions on the selections?

Bob Ferrari

Our readers in Europe may well be aware that a severe foodborne bacterial outbreak of E.coli has been impacting northern Germany and has many health officials concerned.  As in other incidents of this kind, the outbreak has important supply chain implications.

The E.coli outbreak which is believed to have started three weeks ago, is centered in the area of Hamburg Germany, and has spread to nine other European countries as well as the United States.  Thus far, 17 deaths have been reported with over 1500 sickened, 470 of which involve troubling complications of kidney failure. Virtually all of the sickened victims had one thing in common, they recently traveled in Germany. The strain of bacteria is one not seen before and is particularly virulent, as indicated by the current severity of sickness and potential death. The head of surveillance for the European Center for Disease Prevention (ECDC) indicates that health experts are shocked by the degree of cases and suspect a ‘huge contamination’, probably from raw vegetables.

Germany’s health officials suspect from various interviews held thus far, that the infection may stem from either raw cucumbers, tomatoes or lettuce. They are now frantically tracing the agricultural supply chains of retailers, distributors and farms to determine the potential root causes of the infection.  As Supply Chain Matters has observed in similar outbreaks in the U.S. , potentially contaminated product can exist in the supply chain for weeks or months  before infection patterns emerge, and it may take additional weeks to discover the source since many stages of the supply chain will have to be inspected and investigated.  Then again, the sheer scope and suspected localized nature of this particular outbreak may help authorities to discover the suspected causes more quickly. Supply Chain Matters joins others in the hope that the cause can be discovered sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, various European countries are suspecting other countries’ produce as the potential source, and that in turn has led to various finger-pointing exercises among countries such as Germany, Spain and Russia.  Consumers are being asked to avoid eating certain raw vegetables while some countries are instituting outright bans.

Incidents such as this one continue to raise awareness as to whether the food industry, and especially agricultural producers  have taken adequate measures to self-police themselves to potential causes of infection that occur throughout individual supply chains. As consumers reel from the litany of disturbing events such as the one now occurring in Europe, the call for more regulation and supply chain traceability will only widen.

We will continue to monitor the supply chain implications of this outbreak. In the meantime, please share your comments and observations regarding this troubling outbreak in Europe.

Bob Ferrari