2012 Top Supply Chain List Compiled by Gartner

Apple ranked number one in a list of top 25 supply chains for the second year in a row, according to analyst firm Garnter. The news was announced at the firm’s recent supply chain executive conference, held May 21-23 in Palm Desert, California. Following on the tradition of AMR, acquired by Gartner in 2010, the list marked the 8th of its type to be compiled.

Amazon.com jumped to second place, rising from fifth in 2011, followed by McDonald’s, Dell, Proctor and Gamble, Coca-Cola, Intel, Cisco, Walmart and Unilever.

While the list saw a number of repeat players, some new faces appeared as well as the lack of well-established companies who had made the list in recent years. Newcomers to the list included engine maker Cummins, consumer packages goods distributor Kimberly-Clark, apparel retailer H&M and industrial equipment manufacturer Caterpillar.

Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference in Sydney

2011 rankers IBM, Tesco, Kraft and Microsoft were absent from the list, but Gartner notes that IBM and Microsoft were excluded from eligibility based on the fact that too high a percentage of the companies’ income is now based on revenue garnered from services versus physical products.

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Results are based on a combination of objective (financial) and subjective measures, namely Returns on Assets (ROA), revenue growth, inventory turns, and the input of Gartner’s analysts and industry professionals. Weighting of the gathered data includes 50% based on financial measures, 25% based on Gartner’s own analyst opinions with the remaining 25% based on a survey of supply chain professionals. This year 173 “peer” responses were taken into account.