Gartner, Inc. has released the findings from its annual Supply Chain Top 25, identifying supply chain leaders and highlighting their best practices. Analysts announced the findings at the Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference, which is being held through today at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and Spa in Phoenix, AZ.

"2016 marks the 12th year of our annual Supply Chain Top 25 ranking," said Stan Aronow, research vice president at Gartner. "In this year's edition, there are several longtime leaders with new lessons to share and a number of more recent entrants from the high-tech, industrial, chemical, auto and life sciences sectors."

For the first time, Unilever topped the ranking, followed by McDonald's, Amazon, Intel and a newcomer to the top five, H&M (see Table 1). Five new companies made the Supply Chain Top 25 this year with Schneider Electric, BASF and BMW joining the list for the first time, and HP and GlaxoSmithKline rejoining after several years.

Apple and P&G continued to qualify for the Masters category, which Gartner introduced in 2015 to recognize sustained supply chain leadership over the last 10 years. While this category is separate from the overall Supply Chain Top 25 list, these companies continue to be evaluated as part of Gartner's annual research study.

Apple continues to succeed by offering platforms that ecosystems of partners build on to meet customers' needs. The big forward-facing question for Apple and its supply chain is whether it can deliver on the next big innovations to continue the revenue and earnings pace of the last decade.

For the majority of its products, P&G is running an end-to-end synchronization program. Every part of the supply chain operates based on the daily cadence of consumption, in some cases triggered by demand at the shelf. The supply chain team brings data and analysis skills to the process with the ultimate goal of increasing the value that each active SKU contributes to the company.

Along with the Masters category, the Supply Chain Top 25 continues to offer a platform for insights, learning, debate and contribution to the rising influence of supply chain practices on the global economy.

Table 1. The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 for 2016

Rank	Company	Peer Opinion1 (185 voters) (25%)	Gartner Opinion1 (38 voters) (25%)	Three- Year Weighted ROA2 (20%)	Inventory Turns3 (10%)	Three- Year Weighted Revenue Growth4 (10%)	CSR Component Score5 (10%)	Composite Score6
1	Unilever	1841	632	10.8%	6.9	3.6%	10.00	5.84
2	McDonald's	1754	493	13.2%	156.0	-4.0%	3.00	5.54
3	Amazon	3356	582	0.5%	8.4	20.4%	0.00	5.34
4	Intel	1112	496	11.4%	4.3	1.1%	9.00	4.62
5	H&M	833	189	25.3%	3.5	16.3%	9.00	4.50
6	Inditex	1212	283	16.7%	3.9	11.2%	9.00	4.42
7	Cisco Systems	1158	510	8.2%	11.2	2.3%	5.00	4.21
8	Samsung Electronics	1313	303	8.6%	14.8	-2.4%	9.00	3.95
9	The Coca-Cola Co.	1459	253	8.3%	5.7	-2.9%	9.00	3.69
10	Nestlé	1251	257	8.9%	5.2	-1.1%	10.00	3.68
11	Nike	1393	205	14.7%	3.9	9.7%	4.00	3.58
12	Starbucks	1069	188	16.9%	6.8	13.8%	4.00	3.55
13	Colgate-Palmolive	880	323	15.1%	5.2	-3.5%	3.00	3.43
14	3M	784	163	15.0%	4.2	-0.9%	9.00	3.30
15	PepsiCo	931	347	8.5%	8.6	-2.3%	4.00	3.23
16	Walmart	1512	232	7.9%	7.7	0.6%	3.00	3.06
17	HP	390	266	4.6%	12.1	-5.2%	10.00	2.87
18	Schneider Electric	392	259	4.3%	5.1	4.9%	10.00	2.80
19	L'Oréal	888	159	11.4%	3.0	7.0%	4.00	2.70
20	BASF	492	199	6.5%	5.0	-2.0%	10.00	2.70
21	Johnson & Johnson	950	165	11.6%	2.6	-0.4%	4.00	2.65
22	BMW	778	128	3.8%	6.0	8.8%	10.00	2.61
23	GlaxoSmithKline	361	98	12.6%	1.9	-1.9%	9.00	2.51
24	Kimberly-Clark	634	240	9.0%	6.3	-2.5%	3.00	2.48
25	Lenovo Group	508	217	3.6%	13.3	17.0%	4.00	2.43