Test yourself against the best

It’s time to test yourself against the best supply chains in Europe. The European Supply Chain Excellence Awards 2014 are now open for entries.

The Awards are the gold standard of supply chain achievement and winners include some of Europe’s leading companies such as Vodafone, BASF, Danone Baby Nutrition and GlaxoSmithKline.

The winners of the 2014 Awards will be announced at a glittering ceremony at the London Hilton on Park Lane on Wednesday 5th November.

The European Supply Chain Excellence Awards are organised by Supply Chain Standard in association with PwC.

In 2013, the overall winner was Jaguar Land Rover with Unipart Logistics, which fought off strong competition from Telefónica UK and Argos to take the title. The Individual Contribution award went to Dino Rocos, operations director at John Lewis Partnership, whose bold vision to centralise fulfilment – including the emerging new channels for online shopping – was ahead of its time.

And DHL Supply Chain scooped the 3PL of the year award in recognition of its work with Telefónica UK and Debenhams.

There were a record number of entries last year – more than 120 companies took part.

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What makes the European Supply Chain Excellence Awards special is the stringent process to analyse supply chain performance. Our judging team is made up of senior industry figures who bring years of experience to bear. Shortlisted companies are asked to make presentations to our judges and face detail questioning from panel members.

It’s a uniquely exhaustive process that makes the Awards uniquely worth winning.

Awards Categories

Industry Sectors

These Awards recognise excellence in organisation and management of a complete Supply Chain.

» Automotive, Aerospace & Defence
For manufacturers of cars and commercial vehicles, aircraft and defence.

» Consumer Products
For manufacturers and suppliers of consumer goods from food to fashion, tools to toiletries.

» Energy, Utilities & Transport
For organisations providing electricity, water, gas or transport services.

» Health & Pharmaceuticals
For organisations within the product supply side of the healthcare and pharmaceuticals industries.

» Hi Tech, Communications & Electronics
For telecoms and manufacturers of electronics goods, such as mobile telephones, computers, televisions and hi-tech equipment.

» Retail & E-Tail
For supply chains including major multiples, department stores and online retailers covering grocery, fashion, hardware, electronics and leisure goods.

Special Categories

The Awards recognise excellence in the implementation of a specific project.

» Customer Service & Support
For projects that can demonstrate an improvement in customer service and support through more effective management of the supply chain.

» E-Fulfilment
For projects that demonstrate how an organisation is driving improvement by the adoption of electronic fulfilment practices.

» Environmental Improvement
For projects that have reduced carbon footprints, used resources more efficiently and/or minimised waste to the benefit of the supply chain.

» Logistics & Distribution
For projects that involve warehousing, national and/or international transport by air, sea, rail or road which demonstrate an improvement in the efficiency of operations.

» Sourcing & Procurement
For projects that have improved the performance of the procurement function through innovation and/or more effective management of the process.

» Supply Chain Operations
For projects that evidence improvement in the supply chain operations of an organisation.

» Supply Chain Strategy & Design
For projects that demonstrate benefits to the supply chain through strategic developments in an organisation’s operations design, management and practice.

» Technology
For projects where the use of technology has had direct and quantifiable benefit to the supply chain.

» Training & Professional Development
For projects that have resulted in improvements to the supply chain via strategic use of training and development programmes.

Recognition Awards

These Awards cannot be entered directly. The judges will be responsible for nominations based on entries in the above categories.

» 3PL of the year
To recognise the benefits provided by a 3PL in improving a client’s supply chain. Restricted to 3PLs which have entered one of the Industry Sector categories with a client.

» SME of the year
To recognise an entry from a company that is extra special given the size of the organisation. Restricted to organisations with up to 250 employees.

» Team of the Year
To recognise a team that has worked together to the benefit of the supply chain.

» Rising Star
To recognise someone who is increasingly setting the supply chain world alight with their work but would otherwise not be recognised.

» Individual contribution

To recognise an individual working within supply chain who has personally been responsible for some of the most impressive achievements over the past 12 months.

» Overall Winner
To recognise one entrant as the outstanding practitioner within supply chain. This would come from the winners of the Industry Sector awards and would be decided by the final judging panel.

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What does it take to win?

Entrants are asked to provide the judges with a lot of information. In some cases where the judges feel they don’t have enough information – they go back and ask for more.

Those entrants that make it through to the final are invited to make a presentation to the judges and answer questions.

In this process the judges look for five common characteristics of high performing supply chains – the five core disciplines. These are:

1. Does your supply chain help to deliver competitive advantage to your company – or is it a cost of doing business?

2. Are your processes and systems streamlined and integrated across the end-to-end supply chain – or are they complex and fragmented?

3. Is the supply chain organisation structured and staffed for success – or is it an admin function staffed with the dead weights?

4. Have you built a collaborative operating model with a clear understanding of your core competencies – or are you a jack of all trades and a master of none?

5. Have you a clear understanding of how to measure success and is the organisation incentivised to deliver it – or do you measure everything and do nothing with it?

If the entry was for a special category – for example Sourcing and Procurement, or Customer Service there is less emphasis given to the core disciplines and more emphasis to the relative performance and achievement of each of the finalists. In addition, the judges give special attention to the demonstration of innovation and the commitment, passion and enthusiasm of entrants.