Which Companies Shine in the Gartner Supply Chain Awards?

Every year, Gartner publishes its Power of the Profession Supply Chain Awards, celebrating the leading companies that have undertaken transformation that year.

These awards recognise innovations across supply chains, looking at their impact on the people around them.

The leaders that are being celebrated have demonstrated their ability to see where there are gaps to fill and alter their strategy in order to support their customers and patients.

The awards

Now in its 12th year, the Gartner Power of the Profession Supply Chain Awards is a community-driven recognition programme, celebrating the innovations that have led to global supply chain transformation. The awards provide businesses with the opportunity to showcase leadership, attract new talent to the supply chain and advance the industry.

The four award categories are:

• Customer or Patient Innovation of the Year - having achieved quantifiable impact on patient or customer loyalty through supply chain operations.
• People Breakthrough of the Year - creating value or supporting diversity across the supply chain with new opportunities.
• Process or Technology Innovation of the Year - demonstrating outstanding business performance through engineering or technology-based supply chain innovation.
• Social Impact of the Year - has the company had a positive impact on the environment or community?

Winners of these awards have shown their dedication to the supply chain community, having delivered on their mission-critical priorities.

All supply chain, sustainability, Scope 3 and net zero leaders should attend:

• Procurement and Supply Chain LIVE: The Net Zero Summit - QEII Centre, London, March 4-5
• Procurement and Supply Chain LIVE: The US Summit - Navy Pier, Chicago, April 21-22

Co-located with Sustainability LIVE, these events brings together CSCOs, CSOs and senior decision-makers at a moment when sustainability, supply chains and commercial performance are increasingly interconnected.
Tickets can be booked online today for The Net Zero Summit and The US Summit. Group discounts available.

Innovations

Customer or Patient Innovation of the Year - Bristol Myers Squibb

BMS pioneered a transpacific capability that bridged the gap between patient need in Japan and manufacturing in the US for CAR-T therapies, with a timeline of only eight weeks from ideation to implementation. These made-to-order treatments use the patients' own white blood cells to fight blood cancers.

The demand for this treatment outpaces local production in Japan, with a need to access a quick solution. The BMS supply chain team engineered a "bridge" to route the patients' white blood cells from Japan to BMS manufacturing sights in New Jersey and Washington. Through this, more than 100 patients have been able to gain uninterrupted access to these critical therapies.

This has demonstrated BMS's ability to scale to operations to meet future patient needs, with the supply team actively working to improve operational efficiency and access to treatment.

Process or Technology Innovation of the Year - Diageo

​​​​​​​Diageo's Spirits Intelligence Platform (SIP), the art of liquid maturation has been transformed into a data-driven, sustainable global growth engine. SIP predicts - and is able to mitigate - maturation losses across more than 10 million casks. The expectation is to drive major yield improvements with the preservation of increased levels of sellable beverages.

The connected analytics platform optimises allocation of spirits to the best markets, generating high levels of revenue. SIP provides thorough insights, transforming the craft into a precise growth-engine.

Impact

Social Impact of the Year - Microsoft

Microsoft has had an impact on rare earth supply chains, a series of essential elements which prove disruptive and hazardous on surrounding areas when mined. Microsoft is being celebrated for its recovery initiative, where it is recovering rare earth oxides from retired data centre hard disk drives. 

Since February 2025, it has processed more than two million pounds of HDDs and recovered almost 1,750 pounds of REOs. As a result, REO carbon emissions are cut by 80%, with a reduction of health and labour risks, as well as building a resilient domestic supply chain of recycled magnets.

"I am proud to announce that Microsoft is a winner of the Gartner Power of the Profession Supply Chain Awards 2026 for Social Impact of the Year," says Cliff Henson, Corporate Vice President, Cloud Supply Chain and Engineering at Microsoft.

"This recognition reflects our collective commitment to building a cloud supply chain that is resilient, responsible, and sustainable for the long term. 

"This achievement is a powerful example of collaboration across our Azure Hardware Systems Infrastructure, Cloud Supply Chain, and Sustainability teams. It represents a complex, multi‑year journey that required creativity, rigor, and a shared determination to do the right thing, and do it exceptionally well.

"It’s an honor to join the ranks of the world’s supply chain innovators."

People Breakthrough of the Year - Unilever

​​​​​​​The launch of DigiOps took place to prepare Unilever’s customer operations workforce for collaboration with AI agents. This programme integrates major skillsets across all organisational levels, bringing together specialists, managers, directors and vice presidents as they build 12 core skills.

More than 480 employees graduated this programme, gaining more than 3,000 skill advancements and closing digital skills gaps. Through this programme, employee engagement rose and participants were able to unlock new value.