The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 for 2023

The companies ranked in this year’s Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 leverage relationships, supply chain technologies and digital transformation and new service models to retain and grow revenue with customers, both old and new.

These supply chains and others like them are not only driving growth for their companies, but also developing sophisticated capabilities in supply chain risk management. Such capabilities enable rapid recovery from active supply chain disruptions as well as the ability to anticipate and avoid yet unseen risks.

Regardless of your industry, the success of the future supply chain will depend on investments made now in the supply chain capabilities that position the company to be stronger and more profitable over competitors. During these turbulent times, an antifragile strategy is what allows the top supply chain companies to take advantage of opportunities for growth and elevate the role of supply chain within the business — all while remaining agile and resilient.

Supply chain executives today are accountable for work that spans value chains; without collective action, they will be challenged to meet and solve these critical objectives.

A supply chain management approach that relies on many-to-many ecosystems (versus one-to-many networks) helps the top supply chain companies achieve and scale supply chain sustainability. Some of the specific areas where we see this dynamic include:

• Net zero emission. Provide suppliers with training on, and incentives for, renewable energy sources as part of the established supplier relationship and performance management strategy.
  

• Living wages. Partner with both NGOs and governments to raise living standards and ensure everyone who directly provides goods and services to their company earns a living wage or income.

• Regenerative agriculture. Food & beverage, apparel and supply chains originating on farms are joining together to define standards and practices for regenerative agriculture and build solutions. With the assistance of third parties, they are likewise setting the premiums paid for goods certified as “regenerative.” Some supply chains are investing jointly with others to deliver the training and infrastructure required to meet these standards.
  

Supply chain trends and expectations for sustainability will only continue to increase, and so will the type and number of use cases where many-to-many ecosystems are required. It is imperative that supply chain organizations transform strategy from activating one-to-many networks to engaging many-to-many ecosystems. Key to the success of the best supply chain companies is developing partnering and data-sharing capabilities, establishing governance and, importantly, shaping mindsets.

Global chief supply chain officers (GCSCOs) understand that redefining the skills, roles, relationships and structures within their organization is critical to driving high performance and engagement. We see this intersection point in the supply chain transformation strategy, specifically in how technology is used to interact with customers and employees.

• The most advanced consumer products companies have developed “ground truth” in terms of on-shelf availability with retailers through inbound traceability, machine vision, sell-through data and predictive algorithms. In B2B, there is similar tracking of inventory replenishment and consumption with customers. These capabilities allow for more synchronized daily operations and planning. Furthermore, to deploy people on a more strategic level, leading companies have teams embedded within customer organizations for joint innovation and problem solving.

• Supply chain leaders can use technology solutions to alter the ways employees approach their jobs. These solutions allow workers to maintain awareness of their environments, to boost productivity and to drive innovation and collaboration with others. Many companies consider the machines working alongside and in support of human workers to be an extension of their workforce. Significant investments have been made in technology solutions for factory and warehouse floors: Automation, digitalization and analytics can drive higher efficiency and product quality in these environments.