The 2016 supply chain Oscars: Best Picture is Dow, Best Director is Intel

by Kevin O'Marah

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This week in Miami, the SCM World community assembled to explore the topic of innovation and how business can use supply chain as a platform for growth. We heard main stage presentations from Denise Morrison, President and CEO of Campbell’s; Viju Menon, SVP of Global Supply Chain for Verizon; Tom Cheslock, Global Supply Chain Leader for Pfizer Consumer; and Daniel Myers, EVP of Integrated Supply Chain for Mondelez. The common thread was that supply chain, when viewed from the top as an integrated, end-to-end system, can deliver massive business impact even in the face of great challenge.

Those able to elevate the mission of supply chain above its traditional role as a cost centre and/or service centre are finding huge breakthroughs in competitiveness. Supply chain, done right, makes all the difference.

Judging the best

The event also featured our second annual instalment of the Power of the Profession awards – also known as the supply chain Oscars. This programme, which was consciously designed around the example of the Academy Awards given in the film industry since 1929, is all about recognising breakthrough performances in the fast-evolving supply chain profession.

Like the Oscars, we seek out examples of excellence by category, including our two biggest awards: one for supply chain impact and the other for supply chain talent development. These categories are competitively assessed, initially in a community vote of over 300 professionals, and finally in a detailed review by 30 C-level supply chain leaders comprising our judges’ panel.

Judges are obliged to score each nominee on three component dimensions which, when combined, roll up into a final score. Awards are then given to the top scoring nominee for each component dimension, with the highest aggregate scores deciding who wins best director and best picture. The process spans four months and involves extensive effort by all nominees, voters and judges.

The finalists

After digesting over 70 complete nomination packages and surviving two rounds of tournament-style scrutiny, the five top-scoring finalists in each category – Supply Chain Breakthrough (best picture) and Talent Breakthrough (best director) – are already winners. The finalists this year include:

Supply Chain Breakthrough:

• AstraZeneca
• Ecolab
• Intel
• Schneider Electric
• Dow Chemical

Talent Breakthrough:

• The Coca-Cola Company
• Nestlé
• Hallmark
• Intel
• Volvo Car Company

The category winners

 The Coca-Cola Company – for the highest component score in Supply Chain Capability, which recognises a company programme that has effectively developed supply chain skills across an entire organisation.

Volvo Car Company – for the highest component score in Leadership Capability, which celebrates a company effort that has developed skills such as business acumen, communication, influence and analytics.

Intel – for the highest component score in Diversity & Engagement, awarded for improving workforce diversity across the organisation, and making a positive impact on employee engagement.

Intel – for the highest component score in Competitive Advantage, which recognises the creation of organisational capability that uniquely positions a company’s supply chain as advantaged to peers.

Dow Chemical – for the highest component score in Business Results, which focuses on achievement of quantitative impact to financial and/or customer metrics.

AstraZeneca – for the highest component score in Societal Breakthrough, which recognises progress toward solving one or more of the world’s three fundamental challenges: the accessibility of healthcare, the distribution of food, and environmental sustainability.

Drum roll for the Breakthrough of the Year winners…

As in Hollywood, the hierarchy of glory tops out in those awards that reflect not only excellence, but impact. For the Academy Awards the top awards are Best Director and Best Picture.

Best Director is all about getting the most out of everyone involved from cinematographers, to actors, to set designers. In the world of supply chain, the corollary is Talent Development Breakthrough of the Year. The integrated, end-to-end supply chains that provide a platform for innovation and growth demand huge upgrades in peoples’ capabilities.

The 2016 Talent Breakthrough of the Year winner is Intel.

And, as in Hollywood, where the last prize of the night goes to the Best Picture, so at SCM World does our final accolade, Supply Chain Breakthrough of the Year, go to the company that delivers for the customer, the investor and the business as a whole.

The 2016 Supply Chain Breakthrough of the Year winner is Dow Chemical.