Unilever has again topped the Gartner top 15 European supply chains.
Inditex takes second place, followed by Nestlé, H&M and Schneider Electric.
Gartner said there were three key supply chain trends common to the leaders:
• Use of robotic automation, sensor-based monitoring, augmented reality and artificial intelligence in factories, warehouses and back offices.
• A focus on “total customer experience” by better understanding customers’ use of products, predicting future demand and responding to issues before they appear.
• Visibility and traceability across the end-to-end supply chain, with real-time insights to react to disruptions and be more predictive.
Stan Aronow, research vice president at Gartner, said: “The companies in the European top 15 continued to demonstrate excellent revenue growth with a three-year weighted average of 8.3% in 2018, up from 6.8% in 2017 and 3.7% in 2016.
“Moreover, in keeping with recent years, European supply chains scored very highly in the corporate social responsibility and opinion score aspects of the rankings.”
The ranking is based on elements including return on assets, inventory turns, revenue growth, CSR and the opinions of peers and analysts.
1. Unilever
2. Inditex
3. Nestlé
4. H&M
5. Schneider Electric
6. Novo Nordisk
7. L’Oréal
8. Diageo
9. BASF
10. Adidas
11. BMW
12. Reckitt Benckiser
13. Nokia
14. British American Tobacco
15. Danone
Unilever and Inditex also hold the top spots in the global Gartner 2018 ranking.
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