Last Wednesday Amazon took home the top spot in the 2015 version of the 11th annual Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 at the Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference.
This was my first time attending the conference, and I found the unveiling of the Top 25 to be very similar to an American College Football Top 25 Rankings Poll. With the similarity being a set of experts who unveil picks twenty five down to the number one ranking, and discuss why each representative deserved their ranking. However instead of discussing wins, losses, points scored, and turnovers which lead to a ranking: the Gartner Supply Chain executive team discusses top-tier supply chain organizations evaluating many factors. These include: peer opinion, Gartner opinion, inventory turns, return on assets, and revenue growth which lead to a ranking.
After attending the Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference my top three takeaways are:
With my first Gartner Supply Chain Executive Summit in the books, my big picture point of view is the classic supply chain challenges around visibility and data everywhere are going to become more prominent in the future. Organizations who master those challenges may claim the top spots of future Top 25 Gartner Supply Chain rankings, and more importantly continue to be relevant in the global economy.