P&G, Walmart voted best SC

MANUFACTURER    RETAIL

Global - Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Walmart topped a supply chain ranking on Cannondale Associates List report.

The annual survey report ranks the top consumer packaged goods industry supply chains and the top retail supply chains in the primary store segments that sell those packaged goods products.

The full report covers company performance measures in areas such as supply chain, brand power, marketing programmes, overall business fundamentals and sales teams for both consumer goods manufacturers and retailers.

The rankings were developed by asking retailers to rate manufacturers on a predetermined set of categories, and manufacturers to rate retailers on a similar set of attributes.

Both manufacturers and retailers are from the packaged goods, food and beverage sectors.

P&G emerged top again, despite sliding 11 percentage points from its 2008 ranking which was down 5% from 2007.

According to the report, there was some feedback from retailers that P&G had become "less flexible" than in the past, but it still has a fairly sizeable margin over second place Kraft.

Nestle came in fourth, boosted by a five percentage point increase, while Coca-Cola and Clorox were kicked off the top 10 rankings by newcomers Campbell and ConAgra.

In the retail supply chain rankings, Wal-mart made a clean sweep at an astounding 95.6% of manufacturer responses, an increase of 3.5 percentage points from 2008.

Target relinquished second spot with a 4.7% decline, allowing Costco to move up from fourth to second place.

The top 10 ranking was made a top 11 instead because of a tie with Safeway and Giant Eagle new to the list.

Kroger was the star in the retail category, enjoying a 6.3% gain from last year. The grocer is "extremely progressive in what they are trying to do with their supply," according to one manufacturer survey respondent.

"The past 12 months have seen the emergence of changes at a rate that is unusual even for this industry. Keeping up with this shifting landscape, let alone profiting from it is a daunting task for manufacturers and retailers alike," the PowerRankings report said.

Cannondale said these pressures lead manufacturers and retailers to focus on "the right now" instead of doing what is "right for long-term business success".

Instead, both manufacturers and retail supply chains need to pursue a more collaborative model that focuses on the five elements of the "Cycle of Success", which is the theme of the latest report.

The five elements are simplicity, consistency, following through, creativity and involvement in the supply chain.

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