18 SCS:THE EUROPEAN SUPPLY CHAIN EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2008 DECEMBER 2008 SUPPLY CHAIN STANDARD
www.supplychainstandard.com
This year we attracted a very
high number of entries and so
consequently the bar for
finalists was set very high. This
made selecting the winners
very difficult indeed.
As in the last two years of
our involvement we scored all of the segment
award entries on the five core disciplines of: supply
chain strategy; processing systems architecture;
supply chain organisation; performance
management; and collaboration. Exactly the same
as we did last year and the year before. In addition,
we considered each company entry on a number of
Introduction
Pinnacle of
excellence
We reveal the latest companies to join
the ranks of the winners of The
European Supply Chain Excellence
Awards. NICK ALLEN
More than four hundred of Europe’s leading supply
chain professionals attended the prize-giving event
of the 12th European Supply Chain Excellence
Awards at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on the
evening of the 28th October.
The Awards, organised by Supply Chain Standard in
partnership with PRTM, are recognised as the industry’s
premiere Awards programme, and were supported this year by
the generous sponsorship of: The Awareness Group, BT
Supply Chain, George Henderson, Kewill, Kuehne + Nagel, The
Logistics Network, Michael Page Procurement and Supply
Chain, and Toyota Material Handling.
Overcoming the obstacles
This year’s winner is overcoming obstacles that every European company faces - delivering the highest performing supply
chain that offsets the advantages many Asian companies have in terms of low-cost manufacture. Gordon Colborn
other dimensions: How clearly did they
communicate what they have done? Were they
passionate about what they have been doing? Have
they really engaged the senior management? Did
they convince us of both the scope and the
magnitude of what they have achieved?
In particular, we had to look carefully at the
scope, scale and progress of each entry. The really
tough thing was to understand exactly where
each company was on the journey to achieving its
objective. Comparisons often have to be made
between companies that have just started the
journey, others that have been on a journey for
several years and others again that are only half
Hosting the evening was TV personality Jeremy Vine who
announced the winners of the 12 Awards which covered
industry sectors (FMCG/CPG, Retail & Distribution, Telecoms
Hi-Tech & Electronics, Aerospace Defence & Industrial, and
Public Sector Services & Utilities), supply chain processes
(Sourcing & Procurement and Logistics & Fulfilment),
Innovation, Environmental Improvement, Team of the Year,
Individual Contribution, and the Overall Winner.
The European Supply Chain Excellence Awards were
launched in 1997 as an initiative to recognise and reward
organisations in Europe that demonstrate excellence in their
supply chain operations. It remains unique in its rigorous
approach to analysing, assessing and judging the many
applicants from across Europe. This year close on 40
companies were shortlisted for an Award, having scored
sufficiently highly with their initial questionnaire.
From those finalists the judges required further in-depth
information and each company was required to make a
presentation to the assessors – this included comprehensive
way through that journey. We have to be sure that
we are judging entries on what they have actually
achieved and not on what they plan to achieve.
There are a number of interesting observations
that can be made from the entries this year. With
Nokia Siemens Networks we have a truly
deserving overall winner, a company that
embraces the use of the supply chain to deliver
competitive advantage. This company is driven by
the need to do this – they don’t have a choice –
they are not in an industry where you can choose
to be okay, you have to be excellent. They are in a
cut-throat industry where there are literally a
handful of global competitors and if you don’t
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