SUPPLY CHAIN STANDARD DECEMBER 2008
www.supplychainstandard.com
have the highest performing supply chain your
very survival is threatened.
What is particularly interesting is that they are
not doing this from a purely cost basis, as most
companies would, they are looking to the supply
chain to deliver growth.
We have a winner here that embodies the
characteristics that European supply chains need to
be the best performing in the world. We have a
winner that is overcoming obstacles that every
European company faces: to deliver the highest
performing supply chain that more than offsets the
advantages that many Asian companies have in
terms of low-cost manufacture.
When it comes to environmental commitment,
there are much stronger indications this year that
companies are moving to act on environmental
policy, rather than just talking about it. With both
CitySprint and Vodafone it’s clear that sustainability
is a real issue that is being incorporated into the
way the two companies operate; with Vodafone it’s
evident in procurement, with CitySprint it’s in every
aspect of the business.“Green”is not just being
SCS:THE EUROPEAN SUPPLY CHAIN EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2008 19
What makes Nokia Siemens
Networks really different is that
the company is not doing it
from a purely cost basis - as
most companies would - NSN
is looking at the supply chain
to deliver growth.
Vine night in
the West End.
There are much stronger
indications this year that
companies are moving to act
on environmental policy.
talked about, it’s happening, and we haven’t seen
that in previous years.
We were delighted this year to see a significant
number of entries for the Innovation award. These
entries demonstrated how organisations are driving
change by the adoption of new, innovative supply
chain practice. It is particularly rewarding to see an
organisation like Guy’s & Thomas’NHS Foundation
Trust introduce changes that will transform the
industries that they work in. We hope the Awards
programme will help encourage more companies
to identify, develop and implement innovations
that not only transform their own business, but
provide the foundation for industry transformation.
In the Sourcing and Procurement category,
Vodafone presented an interesting insight into
how companies can incorporate sustainable
questioning from the judges (See Gordon Colborn’s Awards
analysis below for more details on the judging process).
The European Supply Chain Excellence Awards have found
yet another very worthy Overall Winner this year in Nokia
Siemens Networks. The hi-tech telecoms networking
equipment and services company took the top Award having
impressed the judges with its transformational approach to a
highly competitive market place. The company is breaking
new ground in building a supply chain that goes beyond just
moving boxes to one where service and software are
integrated in a seamless way. NSN has taken a step into a part
of supply chain management that is still uncharted territory,
where software and hardware come together.
Once again the Overall Winner comes from the hi-tech
sector, following previous hi-tech wins from Infineon last year,
Dell in 2004 and Cisco Systems in 2002. To some degree this is
hardly surprising, given the dynamic nature and tremendous
cost pressures that exist in this industry sector. Here
companies are forced to consider new and innovative ways of
addressing their market place if they wish to remain in
business. As Gordon Colborn, director at PRTM and partners
in the European Supply Chain Excellence Awards, observes:
“Competing on cost, quality and lead-times is not enough
anymore, you need to operate in a completely different way to
gain advantage – those in the telecoms and hi-tech sectors
recognise this.
“What makes Nokia Siemens Networks really different is
that the company is not doing it from a purely cost basis – as
most companies would – NSN is looking at the supply chain
to deliver growth.”
But apart from Nokia Siemens Networks there are
groundbreaking wins to hear about from Kimberly-Clark,
Belron, BT Supply Chain, Mondi, Electrabel, CitySprint,
Hewlett Packard CDS, Lego Group, Guy’s & Thomas’ NHS
Foundation Trust, and Vodafone. A comprehensive review of
this year’s winners can be found over the following pages.
thinking into their procurement processes. The
company is using information relating to a
product’s carbon footprint in its procurement
catalogues. Will companies soon be selecting
suppliers on their carbon performance? Another
interesting emerging trend within Sourcing and
Procurement is the move away from the
confrontational aspects of talking cost with
suppliers and moving to a model centred round
growth through collaboration.
However, despite all of the progress
demonstrated by this year’s finalists I remain
concerned by how many companies still do not
appreciate the magnitude of the opportunity to
use the supply chain to deliver competitive
advantage. What really differentiated this year’s
winner, Nokia Siemens Network, was the clear
demonstration of how the supply chain had been
used to support the business strategy and to help
deliver competitive advantage.
Gordon Colborn is a director of PRTM and
was responsible for the facilitation of the
judging process.
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