Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Gartner Supply Chain Symposium 2022

Five traits that set top-performing supply chains apart

Research from Gartner reveals top supply chains respond better to disruption, are aggressively pursuing sustainability initiatives, have an expansive CSCO role, participate in ecosystem initiatives, and focus on human-centric automation.

Screen Shot 2022-06-07 at 9.08.19 PM.png

It was difficult to achieve supply chain excellence in 2021, but those companies that did exhibited five common traits, according to research from the analyst group Gartner. These traits were distilled from research around Gartner’s annual Top 25 Supply Chains list and were presented during a keynote session on the second day of Gartner’s Supply Chain Symposium, analysts Pia Orup Lund and Chris Poole.

The traits include:


  • Having a chief supply chain officer with broad responsibilities,
  • Collaborating with a large ecosystem of outside partners,
  • Being able to stabilize their operations in the face of disruption,
  • Pursuing ambitious sustainability targets, and
  • Investing in human-centric automation

CSCO role with expansive responsibilities. At leading companies, the role of the CSCO has expanded, and its influence has spread. For example, some CSCOs now have oversight of functions not traditionally considered part of supply chain, such as customer service/experience and IT.

Involvement in broad ecosystems: Companies with top-performing supply chains also set themselves apart by working collaboratively with a broad ecosystem of partners on initiatives that go beyond a single company’s interests. Sometimes these efforts even involve working with competitors on common industry-wide goals, such as environmental, social and governance initiatives.

One such broad ecosystem is General Mills’ (number 23 on Gartner’s list) regenerative agriculture program. Regenerative agriculture is an approach to farming and ranching that incorporates conservation efforts such as topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, and improving water retention. General Mills’ program involves using its scale and influence to expand adoption of these practices to its partners.

“Self-stabilizing” supply chains. Top supply chains in 2021 were those best able to navigate countless supply chain disruptions. In many cases, this resilience and agility was driven by being able to shift funding and resources to emerging critical needs and by accelerating the decision-making process.

Schneider Electric (number 2), for example, has been able to accelerate the decision-making process for what kinds of customizations it can provide to its customers for its engineer-to-order products. In real time, the company is able to communicate with customers about the feasibility of requested customizations and what effect those changes would have on cost and lead time.

Ambitious sustainability agenda. Top ranking companies are typically involved in sustainability efforts that extend beyond their own company to include others in their supply chain. These efforts may include reducing “scope 3 emissions,” or greenhouse gas emissions from assets that are not owned by the company but are part of its overall supply chain.

The beverage company Diageo (number 16), for example, is working with glass manufacturer Encirc and the research and technology organization Glass Futures to reduce the carbon footprint of the bottle-making process.

Human-centric automation. Supply chain leaders are focusing on making investments in automation that improve employees’ workflows and work experience. For example, technology company Intel (number 7) is has begun using augmented reality as a part of its training and development programs for manufacturing employees. The use of this technology has improved the training experience for employees while also making the process faster and more consistent.

Recent

More Stories

cover of report on electrical efficiency

ABI: Push to drop fossil fuels also needs better electric efficiency

Companies in every sector are converting assets from fossil fuel to electric power in their push to reach net-zero energy targets and to reduce costs along the way, but to truly accelerate those efforts, they also need to improve electric energy efficiency, according to a study from technology consulting firm ABI Research.

In fact, boosting that efficiency could contribute fully 25% of the emissions reductions needed to reach net zero. And the pursuit of that goal will drive aggregated global investments in energy efficiency technologies to grow from $106 Billion in 2024 to $153 Billion in 2030, ABI said today in a report titled “The Role of Energy Efficiency in Reaching Net Zero Targets for Enterprises and Industries.”

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

Logistics economy continues on solid footing
Logistics Managers' Index

Logistics economy continues on solid footing

Economic activity in the logistics industry expanded in November, continuing a steady growth pattern that began earlier this year and signaling a return to seasonality after several years of fluctuating conditions, according to the latest Logistics Managers’ Index report (LMI), released today.

The November LMI registered 58.4, down slightly from October’s reading of 58.9, which was the highest level in two years. The LMI is a monthly gauge of business conditions across warehousing and logistics markets; a reading above 50 indicates growth and a reading below 50 indicates contraction.

Keep ReadingShow less
iceberg drawing to represent threats

GEP: six factors could change calm to storm in 2025

The current year is ending on a calm note for the logistics sector, but 2025 is on pace to be an era of rapid transformation, due to six driving forces that will shape procurement and supply chains in coming months, according to a forecast from New Jersey-based supply chain software provider GEP.

"After several years of mitigating inflation, disruption, supply shocks, conflicts, and uncertainty, we are currently in a relative period of calm," John Paitek, vice president, GEP, said in a release. "But it is very much the calm before the coming storm. This report provides procurement and supply chain leaders with a prescriptive guide to weathering the gale force headwinds of protectionism, tariffs, trade wars, regulatory pressures, uncertainty, and the AI revolution that we will face in 2025."

Keep ReadingShow less
chart of top business concerns from descartes

Descartes: businesses say top concern is tariff hikes

Business leaders at companies of every size say that rising tariffs and trade barriers are the most significant global trade challenge facing logistics and supply chain leaders today, according to a survey from supply chain software provider Descartes.

Specifically, 48% of respondents identified rising tariffs and trade barriers as their top concern, followed by supply chain disruptions at 45% and geopolitical instability at 41%. Moreover, tariffs and trade barriers ranked as the priority issue regardless of company size, as respondents at companies with less than 250 employees, 251-500, 501-1,000, 1,001-50,000 and 50,000+ employees all cited it as the most significant issue they are currently facing.

Keep ReadingShow less
photo of worker at port tracking containers

Trump tariff threat strains logistics businesses

Freight transportation providers and maritime port operators are bracing for rough business impacts if the incoming Trump Administration follows through on its pledge to impose a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada and an additional 10% tariff on China, analysts say.

Industry contacts say they fear that such heavy fees could prompt importers to “pull forward” a massive surge of goods before the new administration is seated on January 20, and then quickly cut back again once the hefty new fees are instituted, according to a report from TD Cowen.

Keep ReadingShow less