Report ranks Apple No. 2 in supply chain management

[AppleInsider]

In its annual Supply Chain Top 25 report, AMR Research praises Apple for its superior supply chain capabilities and performance, ranking the consumer electronics maker second in a list of retail and manufacturing heavyweights.

Apple received a composite score of 6.40, just behind chart-topper Nokia, which registered a 6.74. Procter & Gamble tied IBM with a composite score of 5.43, placing both firms a distant third on the list.

"Apple's unparalleled demand-shaping capability lets its supply chain record spectacular results without sweating costs like everyone else," wrote analysts for AMR Research.

The firm's report aims to identifies the top 25 manufacturers and retailers that exhibit superior supply chain capabilities and performance over the past twelve months. The companies mentioned are said to demonstrate excellence across basic metrics related to execution – return on assets, revenue growth, and inventory turns – and are recognized as supply chain leaders.

"The importance of this leadership is hard to overstate," said Kevin O’Marah, senior vice president of research at AMR Research. "Companies in this year’s Supply Chain Top 25 are able to respond quickly and efficiently to opportunities arising from market or customer demand.* It is not simply a matter of cutting costs."



In recent years, AMR Research's report has shown that supply chain leadership translates into stronger market performance. Consistently, the Supply Chain Top 25 as a whole has outperformed the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the NASDAQ.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[mgkwho]

NICE- this is for the entire past year too.

-=|Mgkwho

[kresh]

Apple's inventory turn rate is amazing. Their turn rate is 7.3 days, the next the list is Tesco at just short of 19 days.

Brings new meaning to "Just in time" hehe

[SpamSandwich]

Looks like following all of this recent good news there's a bit of profit-taking on AAPL today...

[JeffDM]

What is Apple's "unparalleled demand-shaping ability"? Is that weasel-speak for "they make stuff people want"?

[Louzer]

"The importance of this leadership is hard to overstate," said Kevin O’Marah, senior vice president of research at AMR Research. "Companies in this year’s Supply Chain Top 25 are able to respond quickly and efficiently to opportunities arising from market or customer demand. It is not simply a matter of cutting costs."

Of course not. The last thing anyone would accuse apple of was cutting costs! (Oh, wait, I guess they're talking their costs, not the prices they charge, huh?).

And just because they're able to respond to market demand, doesn't mean they do. Take those waiting for the next macbook, for example. Demand for that hasn't pushed apple any harder.

Originally Posted by kresh

Apple's inventory turn rate is amazing. Their turn rate is 7.3 days, the next the list is Tesco at just short of 19 days.

Brings new meaning to "Just in time" hehe

Bear in mind that its not a 'days' value, its based on money (as it says on the bottom of the little chart).

And while it sounds great, bear in mind its also the reason why there's a wait on certain hardware, esp. the new stuff.

[anantksundaram]

[QUOTE=Louzer;1089044]Bear in mind that its not a 'days' value, its based on money (as it says on the bottom of the little chart)./QUOTE]

Not quite sure whether this response is germane, but generally, higher inventory turns are highly correlated with better cash flow generation. I am guessing it only means that the inventory 'turned over' 50 times during the year, i.e., every 7+ days (very broadly speaking, 7+ is the average number of days something stayed in the system before revenue was booked).

Of course, it also probably means that Apple outsources a lot, and has stuff shipped directly from suppliers to customers (the "Dell model").

[Slewis]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

What is Apple's "unparalleled demand-shaping ability"? Is that weasel-speak for "they make stuff people want"?

Weasel-speak is an astronaut-grade understatement.

Sebastian

[bigpics]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

What is Apple's "unparalleled demand-shaping ability"? Is that weasel-speak for "they make stuff people want"?

No.

It refers to how Apple's combination of secrecy and buzz, along with quietly shutting down the availability of existing product in advance of introducing the next gen allows it to empty out its supply chain of parts and inventory before it introduces a new product.

Other companies end up with lots of old inventory they have to burn off -- sometimes for less profit, sometimes at a loss. And Apple's able to do this both with its most popular ("stuff people really want") and least popular ("not quite so much") products. It's also why Mac forums will always be filled with people saying, "I just bought an iSomething three weeks ago, and it's already obsolete!"

Weasely? Arguable. Brilliant from a business point of view? Indubitably, Watson.

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by bigpics

No.

It refers to how Apple's combination of secrecy and buzz, along with quietly shutting down the availability of existing product in advance of introducing the next gen allows it to empty out its supply chain of parts and inventory before it introduces a new product.

Other companies end up with lots of old inventory they have to burn off -- sometimes for less profit, sometimes at a loss. And Apple's able to do this both with its most popular ("stuff people really want") and least popular ("not quite so much") products. It's also why Mac forums will always be filled with people saying, "I just bought an iSomething three weeks ago, and it's already obsolete!"

Weasely? Arguable. Brilliant from a business point of view? Indubitably, Watson.

Brilliant. Indubitably!