Last week saw one of the most critical stages on the European Supply Chain Excellence Awards judging process – the presentations.
We ask each of the shortlisted companies to make a presentation to the panel of judges. It’s a big commitment – asking senior staff to give up a significant amount of time to prepare and then come to London to make the presentation.
But we believe that it is only by talking to the people involved that the judges can come to a fair and accurate assessment of the entry.
It’s also a big commitment for the judges. More than 60 organisations have been made presentations – and they cover many different industries as well public sector organisations and come from many different countries.
But it is also tremendously rewarding to hear the stories and see the passion that our finalists bring to the profession.
As one of the judges, I was astonished by the hardships involved in one entry, amazed at the ingenuity of another, and astounded by the sheer scale of a third – and that was in just one morning.
It is fascinating to hear how supply chain professionals have faced up to changing demands – globalisation, recession, environment – and put in place structures and practices to meet them.
This doesn’t make it easy to come to a conclusion. Every year the standard of the entries seems to get a little higher, and that is certainly true this year.
Of course, the winners won’t be announced until the Awards dinner on 18th November.
But, I think this would be a good moment to thank all the companies and individuals who have come along to make presentations to us. It’s been a real privilege to hear their stories.
