• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » 2017 Supply Chain Innovation Awards Presented by SupplyChainBrain & CSCMP

2017 Supply Chain Innovation Awards Presented by SupplyChainBrain & CSCMP

December 19, 2017
SupplyChainBrain

Winner: TransCelerate Comparator Network

Runner-Up: Argos 

Finalists: Whirlpool, Kenco, Vodafone, Intel

Supply chain practitioners are used to seeing competing companies come together to share expenses on non-core competencies, such as co-loading products or using the same distribution center operation. Saving money by moving somebody else’s widgets with yours just makes sense; nobody gives any trade secrets away by using the same 3PL. Fulfilling orders from the same DC as your chief rival doesn’t mean giving away the store. 

Helping a competitor’s research and development efforts to come up with a product that will vie with yours – that’s a bit different. No wonder there was internal pushback in 2012 when some folks in the pharmaceutical business decided it made sense to enable rivals to test medicines they hoped to bring to market against those already successfully making money. 

So an industry forum called TransCelerate BioPharma Inc., this year’s winner of the Supply Chain Innovation Award, did some pushing of its own when it formed the TransCelerate Comparator Network to bring efficiency, quality assurance and cost reduction to the process of developing new medicines.

When pharma companies could buy a medicine directly from a competing manufacturer, no longer would they have to purchase from wholesalers whose supply chains couldn’t ensure sufficient supply or quality yet guaranteed higher costs.

It’s hardly news that medicines often are quite expensive, and any initiatives that can mitigate development costs are welcome by patients. That’s especially true for those who await new medicines to treat conditions for which available products have not been ideal.

Argos, this year’s innovation award runner-up, is no stranger to the internet and to e-commerce. Indeed, more than half of the total sales of the big U.K. retailer are sourced online. And it was the first U.K. company to generate £1bn ($1.3bn) in sales through mobile devices. But the nature of the retailer’s fulfillment network didn’t lend itself to the demands of modern-day e-commerce. So, it shed its roots as a catalog operation and created a new hub-and-spoke fulfillment model for online orders, drawing on its extensive network of stores.

Understandably, big-volume, money-making markets get a lot of attention from manufacturers; niche markets less so. But Whirlpool knew there was money to be made there as well. However, its high-velocity distribution model, in which models that didn’t meet certain sales thresholds were not being stocked at regional distribution centers, was a problem. Realizing that one size doesn’t fit all, Whirlpool remedied the situation in an innovative way.

Sealed Air Corp. had a serious problem with customer-imposed fines for such things as missed delivery targets, improper labeling, incorrect numerical identification of product, pricing errors and shipment shortages. It knew it wasn’t always at fault, but how to prove it? It partnered with Kenco Logistics Services, which developed an app to manage the huge volume of photos taken to prove compliance with customer requirements.

Telecommunications giant Vodafone realized it had to transform its supply chain to remain a world-class operation. To do that, it used a data analytics technology to uncover hidden inefficiencies, automate and streamline supply chain processes. The results: Vodafone cut process costs by 11 percent (reducing the cost per purchase order from $3.22 to $2.85), reduced time to market by 20 percent and achieved 100 percent process transparency in less than six months.

As the size of the PC market has declined, Intel has adopted what it calls the virtuous cycle of growth. In this strategy, sales of such things as PCs, autonomous vehicles, industrial robots, and self-flying drones drive additional compute loads on the cloud and data center. The cycle drives Intel’s supply chain characteristics, which meant the manufacturer had to innovatively blend internal and external outsource manufacturing supply chains.

Whether developed internally or by trusted partners, the innovations described above helped this year’s finalists immensely. Congratulations to the leadership teams of each company for their foresight and willingness to try something new.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Logistics Reverse Logistics Transportation & Distribution Product Lifecycle Management Forecasting & Demand Planning Inventory Planning/ Optimization Sourcing/Procurement/SRM Technology Global Supply Chain Management Quality & Metrics Regulation & Compliance All Warehouse Services RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice Order Fulfillment E-Commerce/Omni-Channel Healthcare High-Tech/Electronics Pharmaceutical/Biotech Retail
KEYWORDS All Warehouse Services E-Commerce/Omni-Channel Forecasting & Demand Planning Global Supply Chain Management healthcare High-Tech/Electronics Inventory Planning/ Optimization Logistics Mobility & Voice order fulfillment Pharmaceutical/Biotech Product Lifecycle Management Quality & Metrics Regulation & Compliance Retail Reverse Logistics Sourcing/Procurement/SCM Technology Transportation & Distribution
  • Related Articles

    2013 Supply Chain Innovation Awards, Presented by SupplyChainBrain & CSCMP

    2016 Supply Chain Innovation Awards Presented by SupplyChainBrain and CSCMP

    2014 Supply Chain Innovation Awards – Presented by SupplyChainBrain & CSCMP

SupplyChainBrain

Boeing-DOJ ‘Sweetheart Deal’ Decried by Victim’s Wife

More from this author

Wake up to live
“Supply Chains in Crisis”
updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • INTERIOR OF A CHICKEN FARM, WITH WHITE CHICKENS AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE

    Worst Avian Flu in U.S. History Is Hitting Poultry

    Food & Beverage
  • TWO FINGERS MANIPULATE WOODEN LETTER BLOCKS TO TURN FROM SHOWING THE WORD RECOVERY TO RESILIENCE

    Five Challenges to Supply Chain Resilience in 2023

    Supply Chain Visibility
  • A PERSON HOLDS UP A TABLET COMPUTER IN A WAREHOUSE, SUPER-IMPOSED BY A GRAPHIC SHOWING A COMPLEX WEB OF SUPPLY CHAIN ELEMENTS

    Three Post-Pandemic Actions for Repairing Global Supply Chains

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • A MAN IN A SUIT SHAKES HANDS WITH A WOMAN IN A HARD HAT, NEXT TO A STACK OF CONTAINERS

    Three Procurement Technology Evolutions for 2023

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
  • The blank stare of a child's eye who is standing behind what appears to be a wooden frame

    The Alarming Continued Rise of Modern Slavery in Supply Chains: How Procurement Can Help Reverse the Trend

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM

Digital Edition

Scb nov 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated IFM
Infor Inmar Keelvar
Kinaxis Korber Lean Solutions Group 2H
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Logility
LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems MCA Connect
MPO Nvidia Old Dominion
OpenText ORTEC Overhaul
Parsyl PMMI QIMA
Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics
Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD
Shipwell Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing