Top 10 Global Supply Chains

Which global companies and industries are leading the way? Which company encompasses the best supply chain practices? Has the same company been leading the way for the past decade, or has an underdog come from behind?

To answer these questions, Vero Solutions, a UK-based provider of tracking and safety solutions, analyzed Gartner’s annual list of the best supply chains over the past decade. Here’s what Vero discovered:

Unilever takes the top spot as the best supply chain in 2018, a position it has held since 2016. The company has ranked in the top 25 supply chains since 2009. It did not, however, reach the top 10 until 2013 when it ranked 10th. Due to the scale of products this company creates, is it any surprise that its supply chain is nothing less than the best?

Which companies are still making the list 10 years on? Well, it’s only Cisco Systems—a multinational technology company based in San Jose, California—that is left standing. In 2008, Nokia was positioned in second place but dropped off the list entirely after 2009; the same happened to Toyota.

Which industry is leading the way overall?

While the technology industry dominated the top 10 2008 companies, with Samsung Electronics and IBM on the list, the food and beverage and retail industries take up most of the leaderboard in 2018, with PepsiCo, H&M, and Starbucks featured in the top 10.

The top 10 2018 supply chain champions are:

1. Unilever

2. Inditex

3. Cisco Systems

4. Colgate-Palmolive

5. Intel

6. Nike

7. Nestle

8. PepsiCo

9. H&M

10. Starbucks