Unilever Still on Top of Gartner 2018 Supply Chain Top 25

Gartner, Inc. released the results of its annual Supply Chain Top 25, identifying supply chain leaders and highlighting their best practices.

Unilever held on to the top spot for the third year in a row, followed by Inditex, Cisco, Colgate-Palmolive and Intel. Home Depot re-entered the rankings while Novo Nordisk and Adidas were included for the first time.

McDonald’s joined Apple, P&G and Amazon in qualifying for the “Masters” category, which recognizes sustained leadership over the last 10 years.

McDonald’s skillful orchestration across a global network of strategic suppliers, service providers and thousands of companies and franchise-owned stores was cited as the secret to their success. Additionally, the fast-food firm is also experimenting with digital supply chain technologies like augmented reality to manage storerooms, so staff can spend more time with the customer.

The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 for 2018

1 Unilever

2 Inditex

3 Cisco Systems

4 Colgate-Palmolive

5 Intel

6 Nike

7 Nestlé

8 PepsiCo

9 H&M

10 Starbucks

11 3M

12 Schneider Electric

13 Novo Nordisk

14 HP Inc.

15 L’Oréal

16 Diageo

17 Samsung Electronics

18 Johnson & Johnson

19 BASF

20 Walmart

21 Kimberly-Clark

22 The Coca Cola Co.

23 Home Depot

24 Adidas

25 BMW

Three key trends stand out this year for supply chain leaders that are accelerating their capabilities, separating them further from the rest of the pack.

1) Focus on Customer Experience

2) Scaling Digital Supply Chain Capabilities

3) Moving to Circular Supply Chain Designs

To learn more about the digital technologies that are creating the kind of NextGen supply chains like the ones named above, download the 2018 MHI Annual Industry Report – “Overcoming Barriers to NextGen Supply Chain Innovation.”