An annual ranking of the top 25 supply chain leaders puts Unilever in top place. The ranking, compiled by IT research and advisory firm Gartner, takes six factors into consideration to compile a composite ranking for each company. Gartner's own supply chain experts as well as corporate peers vote for each company and four other financial indicators are taken into account, such as inventory turns and three-year weighted revenue growth, as well as corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Five new companies in Supply Chain Top 25

The top five companies listed in order were: Unilever, MacDonald's, Amazon, Intel and H&M. Five new companies made the Supply Chain Top 25 this year with Schneider Electric, BASF and BMW joining the list for the first time, and HP and GlaxoSmithKline rejoining after several years.

The top 25 ranking, together with a breakdown of the weighted votes and financial data, is on Gartner's website here. 

Stan Aronow, research vice president at Gartner, said: "2016 marks the 12th year of our annual Supply Chain Top 25 ranking. In this year's edition, there are several longtime leaders with new lessons to share and a number of more recent entrants from the high-tech, industrial, chemical, auto and life sciences sectors."

Can Apple's supply chain deliver next innovations?

Gartner's top 25 ranking also aims to share supply chain best practice and its Masters category, which is separate from the top 25, recognises sustained supply chain leadership over the last 10 years. Apple is evaluated as part of the Masters category and Gartner states: “Apple continues to succeed by offering platforms that ecosystems of partners build on to meet customers' needs. The big forward-facing question for Apple and its supply chain is whether it can deliver on the next big innovations to continue the revenue and earnings pace of the last decade.”

Supply chain triggered by demand on the shelf 

P&G is also recognised in that category and Gartner states: “For the majority of its products, P&G is running an end-to-end synchronization program. Every part of the supply chain operates based on the daily cadence of consumption, in some cases triggered by demand at the shelf. The supply chain team brings data and analysis skills to the process with the ultimate goal of increasing the value that each active SKU contributes to the company.”