Power of the Profession: best supply chains of 2014

With December entering its final week, it seems an ideal moment to look back on a year’s worth of supply chain learning. As most of you know, the principle underlying what we do is that no one knows more about the global supply chain than the practitioners who build and run it every day. Our job is to tap that knowledge for the greater good of the profession as a whole. 

The SCM World community is designed to act as a learning engine where members bring both questions and answers, and the dynamism of dialogue steepens our collective learning curve. This manifests as thousands of contributed presentations, webinars and, of course, field survey responses to questions designed for and by all of you. 

To sharpen the focus on how powerful this community learning engine can be, we recently introduced the SCM World Power of the Profession Awards. And with initial nominations now closed, I can safely say that the engine is indeed humming.

The awards, which recognise supply chain breakthroughs in strategic execution and talent development, were designed in large part as a fix to the more common complaints about the Gartner Supply Chain Top 25.

Chief among these is a heavy reliance on corporate financial data, which penalises certain industries, excludes smaller businesses, and buries specific examples of excellence in overall company performance. Our process is simple and meant mainly to identify lessons learned in practice.

So far, so good.

Active participation

In just over one month we have seen active participation by almost 80 companies across all industries ranging in revenue from $100 million to $110+ billion, resulting in dozens of completed nomination forms. In each case, nominations required specific details of what was done, why it was innovative, how it was measured and, of course, what was learned.

The 350-page book that comprises all completed nominations is a testament to our collective desire constantly to get better at what we do, and is an irresistible read for a supply chain junkie like me.

Some key takeaways from this first phase of the process include:

Talent

• Talent development challenges are fiercest in emerging markets
• Companies are rapidly expanding how they define talent to include business partners, the education pipeline and regional variation
• Investments in talent yield financial results in other areas

Strategy & execution

• The scope of supply chain initiatives is massive, and yet simultaneously…
• Initiative timelines are becoming ruthlessly short
• Even functional leads are talking cross-functionally

The profession is changing fast and the best among us are stepping up to lead.

Best of the best

After processing the initial field of nominations and preparing for the all-important community vote, we have (painfully!) selected a group of 32 semi-finalists across the two awards (Supply Chain Breakthrough and Talent Breakthrough). These will be further winnowed down to five finalists in each category.

These finalists will then be ranked by our expert panel of 30 C-level execs and top academics. The winners will be announced at SCM World Live in Miami on 23 February 2015.

When all is said and done, this first-ever “Supply Chain Oscars” will undoubtedly leave some feeling underappreciated, jealous or frustrated. In spite of this we feel compelled to proceed both because excellence deserves recognition and because competition spurs innovation. Plus, we’ll all have a chance to see exactly what excellence looks like in practice.

Callouts

Having dealt personally with the emotions surrounding the Top 25 from its inception, I know how invested people become. As such, I feel compelled to call out a few individuals who’ve done more than their share for the community with this awards process.

• General Mills – With submissions in both categories and a track record of active leadership, this US food company is certainly one of my favourites.
• Delphi – Having submitted four detailed and compelling nominations, this tier-1 automotive supplier has earned my personal thanks.
• Coca-Cola – Five submissions from Red System bottlers show a commitment to learning that spans the value chain.
• BASF, Clorox, Intel, ROi and Puig are five more that stood out for me.

Who do you think is best? Voting is now open.

SUPPLY CHAIN BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR

TALENT BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR