Survey Finds Supply Chains Key to Strategy

Despite the growing importance of supply chain operations in Europe, over 40 percent of European retailers and manufacturers still fail to include any supply chain professional on their managerial boards, according to a new report.

According to the survey by Analytiqa, a U.K.-based business research firm, ten percent of all European companies have stopped having a supply chain director (or equivalent title) as a board member, despite the fact that most retailers and manufacturers that have a presence in Europe have increased the head count within their supply chain division.

Although 90 percent of European manufacturers and retailers in Europe had a positive view of the performance of their supply chain between 2008 and 2009, they said their most critical future strategic issues are forecasting accuracy, overcoming the growing complexity of their supply chains, managing the strain of increasing costs, and aligning the performance of 3PLs to their strategic supply chain goals.

Among other findings in the study, 13 percent of supply chain managers surveyed said they anticipate a decline in outsourced logistics activity for their company over the next five years.

Although European supply chain directors are more aware than ever of the benefits that a pan-European supply chain model can provide, they expressed growing doubts about whether 3PLs are prepared to tackle that task effectively.

In 2003, 17 percent of senior supply chain executives surveyed said that no third-party logistics provider could conduct pan-European operations. In the latest survey, nearly 50 percent said that 3PLs are still not capable of handling their pan-European outsourced logistics requirements.

Contact Alan M. Field at afield@joc.com.