Supply Chain Metrics That Matter - A Focus on Chemical Companies - 2017

A Focus on Chemical Companies
A Seven-Year View of Progress on Supply Chain Excellence
07/18/2017
By Lora Cecere
Founder and CEO
Supply Chain Insights LLC
and Samuel Borthwick
Research Assistant
Supply Chain Insights LLC
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter

Contents
Research
Disclosure
Executive Overview
Understanding the Industry
Growth
Value
Performance
Cycle
Industry Focus
Recommendations
Conclusion
Appendix
Other Reports in This Series
About Supply Chain Insights LLC
About Lora Cecere
About Sam Borthwick
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10
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Research
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter is a series of reports published throughout the year by Supply
Chain Insights LLC. Each report in the series is a deep analysis of supply chain performance within
an industry. This report focuses on the chemical industry.
These reports are based on data collected from financial balance sheets and income statements over
the period of 2010-2016. Here we analyze how companies made trade-offs in balancing growth,
profitability, cycles and complexity.
Within the world of Supply Chain Management (SCM), each industry is unique. We believe that it is
dangerous to list all industries in a spreadsheet and declare a supply chain leader. Instead, we
believe supply chain excellence needs to be managed with a focus on a balanced portfolio of metrics,
with a focus over time by peer group. In this series of reports, we analyze the potential of each supply
chain peer group, share insights from leaders within each industry, and give recommendations based
on general market trends.
Disclosure
Your trust is important to us. As such, we are open and transparent about our financial relationships
and our research process. This independent research is 100% funded by Supply Chain Insights.
These reports are intended for you to read, share, and use to improve your supply chain decisions.
Please share this data freely within your company and across your industry. All we ask for in return is
attribution when you use the materials in this report. We publish under the Creative Commons
License Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States and you will find our citation policy
here.

Executive Overview
Slowing growth. Shareholder activism. Stalled performance. This is today’s chemical industry reality.
While companies want to disintermediate from a commodity chemical mindset to provide specialized
products for end markets, the cultural DNA of a chemical company is steeped in a supply paradigm
that is inside-out. It is not equal to the challenge.
The traditional definition of supply chain excellence runs deep and is heavily controlled by
manufacturing. While traditional economies of scale came from large-scale manufacturing with large
volume batches and bulk shipping, the world has changed. The shift to differentiated products
requires rethinking batch sizes, shipping modalities and supply chain processes. More importantly,
and the top-of-mind question for chemical business leaders is, “How do chemical companies translate
economies of scale and differentiation into new business models based on the shifts in business
market fundamentals?”
Table 1. Industry Overview of Trends for the Period of 2010-2016

Stalled on the Supply Chain Metrics That Matter1, the chemical industry is struggling to redefine
process excellence. Traditional process standardization drives improvement in singular area, not a
portfolio of metrics. Improvement in a portfolio of metrics improves value. To understand the depth of
the issue, take a look at the chemical industry within the value chain as shown in Table 1.
Let’s start by explaining the chart. In Table 1, each industry is represented based on product
groupings. We group 495 companies by industry to complete this analysis. Within an industry, the first
number represents the average value for a metric for the period of 2010-2016. The second number
represents the percentage change when the 2010 average is compared to that of 2016. For example,
while growth in the chemical industry averaged 3% (slightly above GDP) for the period of 2010-2016,
growth in 2016 was down 12% on a revenue basis versus 2010. Similarly, while operating margin for
2016 represents a 1% improvement over 2010, the rest of the Supply Chain Metrics That Matter show
performance deterioration. Of significant note is the precipitous decline in inventory turns which
impacts the Cash-to-Cash cycle.
With the increase in business complexity and globalization, companies struggle with increasing
inventories. Few realize that globalization increased in-transit inventories. In addition, port congestion,
larger vessels, and slow-steaming by ocean carriers increases in-transit inventories and adversely
impacts safety stock due the reliability of supply. Since few chemical companies are good at supply
chain planning—with many going backwards versus forwards in capabilities in planning—inventory
management remains an opportunity. Few understand how to balance form and function of inventory.
Table 2. Form and Function of Inventory
1
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter, Wiley, 2012

To compensate for the increase in inventories, most companies offset shifts in Days of Inventory by
lengthening Days of Payables. This is a short-term gain with long-term impacts. With the lengthening
of payables, the supply base is more fragile and the risk to supply increases.
No chemical company has used economies of scale to their benefit in response to the market shifts.
As a result, the industry is driven by buy/sell relationships based on price. As growth stalls, and
globalization challenges increase, the supply chain leader is struggling to reduce costs.
The business is more complex. Sitting three and four levels back in the value chain, the chemical
industry is experiencing the compounding impact of increasing complexity of downstream customers.
They are unable to price, to overcome the costs of complexity, through traditional approaches. As a
result, the industry is facing the double whammy of price and complexity pressures.
Understanding the Industry
While chemical company leadership wants to drive compliance, i.e. adherence to supply chain best
practices and the adoption of standard technology, there is a dilemma. Simply put, they are not able
to drive improvement through the adoption of historic practices using traditional IT platforms. There is
a need to question if historic practices are equal to the challenge of the global supply chain.
Increasingly, supply chain leaders are asking, “Are historic practices best practices?”
The reality is that the traditional focus of creating efficient vertical organizational silos does not deliver
an effective supply chain. Instead, there is a need to align the organization to a cross-functional,
shared metrics portfolio. Without this alignment, strong manufacturing and transportation
organizations within the company become self-serving, throwing the supply chain out of balance.
Few companies are able to drive process improvement. Within today’s company, innovation is
focused on new product launch, not process innovation. Few companies have come to grips with the
new reality that they must innovate and redefine processes to drive business improvement.
When we first started the research on the Supply Chain Metrics That Matter report series, we
believed that through the combination of an investment in technology, people, and process, that
companies could drive results as shown in Figure 1. This is the conventional wisdom within a
chemical company.

Figure 1. Driving Performance Improvement
When we examine actual performance, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, a different picture emerges.
Companies are struggling. An orbit chart enables a study of year-over-year patterns at the
intersection of metrics. The averages for each company is shown in the boxes on the chart.
In Figures 2 and 3, Grace is driving more improvement than BASF, Dow or Solvay. While we picked
these chemical companies at random to illustrate the point of stalled metrics performance, if we
showed a portfolio of chemical companies the orbit charts would be similar. The patterns show a lack
of resiliency (large variation in metrics performance with overlapping patterns).

Figure 2. Orbit Chart of Dow Chemical and BASF at the Intersection of Inventory Turns and Operating Margin
Figure 3. Orbit Chart of Grace and Solvay at the Intersection of Inventory Turns and Operating Margin

In this buy/sell relationship focused on cost, the sad reality is that only 12% of companies can
measure total supply chain costs and make trade-offs in decisions across silos. The environments are
growing more reactive with companies making unconscious trade-offs between operating margin and
inventory turns. This is our fourth year of the Supply Chains to Admire analysis. We share an
overview of the analysis in Figure 4, and a more complete discussion in the full Supply Chains to
Admire 2017 report.
Figure 4. Definition of the Supply Chains to Admire
Figure 5. Winners of the 2017 Supply Chains to Admire Analysis

Growth
Companies are attempting to drive growth through specialized chemicals, and mergers and
acquisitions (M&A). As shown by the growth at Eastman, Ecolab, Lanza, and Kraton, the greatest
impact in post-recession growth was through M&A. Slowing growth plagued the industry in the period
of 2010-2016, heralding the importance of supply chain excellence. In Table 3 we contrast growth
with improvement in the Metrics That Matter as measured by the Supply Chain Index2.
Table 3. Growth and the Supply Chain Index in the Chemical Industry
2
Supply Chain Index, Supply Chain Insights, http://supplychaininsights.com/portfolio/launch-of-the-supply-chain-index/, July 17,
2017

Value
Traditional supply chain leaders focus on costs, not on value. Here we share the results on two value
metrics: market capitalization and price to tangible book value.
Table 4. Company Overview of Market Capitalization and Price to Tangible Book Value

Performance
As growth slowed, chemical companies focused on cost improvement. When we compare the values
of 2004-2006 to the post-recession period of 2010-2016, we see that employee productivity improved
56%, but it did not translate to operating margin due the increase in complexity. Inventory turns
decreased, but cash-to-cash improved 50% due to the focus on payables.
Table 5. Company Overview and Performance for Chemical Companies

Cycle
In Table 6 we share the impact of supply chain decisions on the components of cash-to-cash. As
receivables increased from downstream customers, the industry elongated payables to offset the
increase in the Days of Inventory.
Table 6. Impact on Cash-to-Cash Elements

Industry Focus
Population growth, coupled with global expansion, changed the face of the chemical supply chain in
this time period. Chemical companies expanded with new plants and distribution centers; and as
growth slowed, companies launched restructuring plans to optimize supply chain efficiency and
reduce the workforce. Social Responsibility within the chemical industry also increased in importance.
No company attempted to reverse the trend of stalled performance through reinvention and process
innovation. To better understand the dynamics, here we share relevant excerpts from industry annual
reports from the period 2014-2016.
2014
The Dow Chemical Company. “Dow continues to work collaboratively across the supply chain on
Responsible Care®, Supply Chain Design, Emergency Preparedness, Shipment Visibility and
transportation of hazardous materials. Dow is cooperating with public and private entities to lead the
implementation of advanced tank car design, and track and trace technologies. Further, Dow’s
Distribution Risk Review process that has been in place for decades was expanded to address
potential threats in all modes of transportation across the Company’s supply chain. To reduce
vulnerabilities, Dow maintains security measures that meet or exceed regulatory and industry security
standards in all areas in which the Company operates. Climate change matters for Dow are likely to
be driven by changes in regulations, public policy and physical climate parameters. Regulatory
matters include cap and trade schemes; increased greenhouse gas (“GHG”) limits; and taxes on
GHG emissions, fuel and energy.3
In addition, volatility and disruption of financial markets could limit customers' ability to obtain
adequate financing to maintain operations, which could result in a decrease in sales volume and have
a negative impact on Dow's results of operations. The Company's global business operations also
give rise to market risk exposure related to changes in foreign exchange rates, interest rates,
commodity prices and other market factors such as equity prices. To manage such risks, Dow enters
into hedging transactions pursuant to established guidelines and policies. If Dow fails to effectively
manage such risks, it could have a negative impact on the Company's results of operations.4”
3
The Dow Chemical Company 2014 Annual Report, February 13, 2015, p. 62, http://www.dow.com/en-us/investor-relations/financial-reporting/annual-
reports, accessed June 20, 2017
4

Givaudan. “In 2014, the dedicated supply chain organization delivered solid results through
increased cross-functional collaboration, better alignment of objectives and enhanced transparency
and risk management. This results in synergies with all parts of the organization as well as with
customers and suppliers.5
The gross margin increased to 46.0% from 44.7%, driven by the positive leverage effect from the
volume gains and lower operational costs following the closure of the Flavours facilities in
Bromborough, UK, and Kemptthal, Switzerland. In addition, the company continued to benefit from
supply chain efficiencies.6”
Ecolab. “During 2014 we continued to undergo activities under our two active restructuring plans; the
Energy Restructuring Plan and the Combined Restructuring Plan. The individual plans remain
focused on the original initiatives of strengthening our position in the fast-growing global energy
market, reducing our global workforce, and optimizing and simplifying our supply chain, distribution
center locations and other facilities.7
The combined restructuring plan (the “Combined Plan”) combines opportunities and initiatives from
both plans and continues to follow the original format of the Merger Restructuring Plan by focusing on
global actions related to optimization of our supply chain and office facilities, including reductions of
the global work force and plant and distribution center locations. During the fourth quarter of 2014, we
identified additional opportunities to optimize our supply chain, increase efficiency and effectiveness
and reduce workforce, which increased total planned charges under the Combined Plan from $330
million ($245 million after tax) to $390 million ($295 million after tax).8”
Dupont. “The key markets served by the segment include the automotive original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs) and associated after-market industries, as well as electrical, packaging,
construction, oil, electronics, photovoltaics, aerospace, chemical processing and consumer durable
goods. The segment has several large customers, primarily in the motor vehicle OEM industry supply
chain. The company has long-standing relationships with these customers and they are considered to
be important to the segment's operating results.9”
5
Annual Report 2014, January 27, 2015, p. 49, https://www.givaudan.com/investors/financial-information, accessed June 20, 2017
6
7
Annual Report 2014, January 27, 2015, p. 14, http://investor.ecolab.com/earnings-center/annual-reports, accessed June 20, 2017
8
Annual Report 2014, January 27, 2015, p. 19, http://investor.ecolab.com/earnings-center/annual-reports, accessed June 20, 2017
9
FORM 10-K, 2015, p. 5, http://investors.dupont.com/investor-relations/overview/default.aspx, accessed June 20, 2017

BASF. “The Company has ceased manufacturing operations at the Automotive Coatings Blending
plant at Khuskhera in Rajasthan due to high safety risks, which had made the continuance of
manufacturing operations at the said plant difficult.10
The outlook for the Textile Chemicals business looks challenging due to rising raw material cost,
higher local capacities, weakening of rupee and stiff competition in the domestic market.11 Slowdown
in infrastructure investment and oversupply in the housing sector in some of the metro cities, limited
availability of raw materials and volatility in exchange rates are major concerns for this business. With
the approval of several infrastructure projects, growth prospects for this business are positive.12”
2015
The Dow Chemical Company.” In 2015, 38 percent of the Company’s sales were to customers in
North America; 31 percent were in Europe, Middle East, Africa and India ("EMEAI"); while the
remaining 31 percent were to customers in Asia Pacific and Latin America.13 In 2015, Dow had
another strong year of earnings growth in a challenging and volatile macroeconomic environment that
included significant declines in crude oil and feedstock prices and currency headwinds from a
strengthening U.S. dollar. In this economic environment, the Company demonstrated financial
discipline and executed against its priorities - divesting of nonstrategic businesses, completing the
split-off of the chlorine value chain and initiating the restructure of the Company's joint ventures.14
Dow's global plant operating rate was 85 percent of capacity in 2015, compared with 85 percent in
2014 and 81 percent in 2013. Operating rates improved in 2014 primarily due to increased demand
and actions taken by management to increase asset utilization.15”
Givaudan. “In 2011, we embarked on a Supply Chain Excellence programmed aimed at improving
customer service levels while optimizing inventory and other supply chain costs. The successful
implementation of this program has strengthened Fragrance and Flavours service levels to almost
98% and significantly reduced supply chain costs. In 2015, Procurement category management
worked closely with the Supply Chain teams on jointly delivering a balance between inventory
10
Annual Report 2013-2014, April 29, 2015, p. 5, https://www.basf.com/in/en/company/investor-relations/annual-reports, accessed June 20, 2017
11
12
13
14
15

optimization and supply security while improving customer service levels. This was another example
of cross-functional teamwork with Supply Chain, an important pillar of Givaudan’s strategy, which
allowed further joint efforts to reach our Company targets. 16 The year was dedicated to strengthening
our big data capabilities and developing predictive models in various areas such as procurement and
sales, bringing tangible insight to decisionmakers and preparing the ground for further business
digitalization.17”
Ecolab. “The Combined Plan combines opportunities and initiatives from both plans and continues to
follow the original format of the Merger Restructuring Plan by focusing on global actions related to
optimization of the supply chain and office facilities, including reductions of the global workforce, plant
and distribution center locations.18 Continued population growth, a growing middle class and global
diets shifting from grains to proteins are placing ever-increasing pressure on the world’s natural
resources. By 2030, it is estimated that the world will need 35 percent more food, 40 percent more
clean water and 50 percent more energy. Food, energy and water are interconnected. It takes water
and energy to provide food, water to provide energy and energy to provide water. This is the food-
energy-water nexus, and the interconnectivity of these vital resources will place increasing demands
on the world’s limited fresh water supply.19”
Dupont. “In 2015, to confront macroeconomic challenges, we added to this formula an intensified
focus on lowering our cost position. This approach enabled us to partially offset external factors,
including the impact of currency and difficult conditions in Agriculture and emerging markets, which
impacted our top line. Net sales were $25.1 billion versus $28.4 billion in the prior year. Last year, we
also introduced more than 1,600 new products, were granted about 760 new U.S. patents, and filed
applications for more than 1,000 U.S. patents – all tangible measures of our ability to translate our
scientific leadership into marketable products. Our two newest classes of corn genetics demonstrated
strong harvest performance and are expected to comprise over half of our North American corn sales
volume in 2016.20”
16
17
18
Annual Report 2015, February 26, 2015, p. 65, http://investor.ecolab.com/earnings-center/annual-reports, accessed June 20, 2017
19
20
2015 Dupont Annual Report, 2016 p. 1, http://investors.dupont.com/investor-relations/overview/default.aspx, accessed June 20, 2017

BASF. “The new chemical production site at Dahej, Gujarat involving an investment of Rs. 1,000
crores commenced commercial production during the year. Due to additional interest, depreciation,
pre-marketing expenses and start-up related costs on account of Dahej site, your Company reported
a loss for the financial year ended 31st March 2015.21 In addition to the above, a new bio fuel based
boiler was installed and commissioned at the Mangalore site for supplying steam to the plants thereby
reducing fossil fuel consumption. The steam cost per kg was reduced by 50% at the site.22”
2016
The Dow Chemical Company. “Volume increased 5 percent in 2016 compared with 2015, as
increases in Consumer Solutions (up 29 percent), Infrastructure Solutions (up 23 percent), and
Performance Plastics (up 8 percent) more than offset volume declines in Performance Materials &
Chemicals (down 14 percent) and Agricultural Sciences (down 3 percent). Volume increased in all
geographic areas, except Latin America (down 1 percent), including a double-digit increase in Asia
Pacific (up 16 percent). Excluding the impact of recent acquisitions and divestitures (1), volume was
up 4 percent with increases in all operating segments, except Infrastructure Solutions (down 3
percent) and Agricultural Sciences (down 2 percent). On the same basis, volume increased in all
geographic areas, except Latin America which was flat. Price was down 6 percent in 2016 compared
with 2015, driven by lower feedstock and raw material prices and competitive pricing pressures. Price
declines were reported in all operating segments, except Agricultural Sciences which was flat, and all
geographic areas23
Net sales for 2016 were $48.2 billion, down 1 percent from $48.8 billion in 2015, with volume up 5
percent and price down 6 percent. Price decreased in all operating segments, except Agricultural
Sciences which was flat, and all geographic areas, due to lower feedstock and raw material prices
and competitive pricing pressures.24”
Givaudan. “Our network includes more than 3,000 raw material suppliers and more than 12,000
indirect material and services suppliers. These procurement activities are influenced by a changing
external environment: the fast-growing global population is increasing demand; consumers are more
21
Annual Report 2014-2015, 2016, p. 4, https://www.basf.com/in/en/company/investor-relations/annual-reports, accessed June 20, 2017
22
23
24

connected and better informed, driving us to higher standards of compliance with sustainability
specifications; and digitalization is enhancing business intelligence and support to meet consumers’
need for transparency.25
To better address vanilla crises like the one we are currently facing and to meet ever growing
customer expectations on iconic vanilla, we further expanded our footprint in Madagascar. We
concluded another strategic agreement to leverage the local expertise and infrastructure of our
partner HFF and secure 100% vanilla bean supply directly from Malagasy smallholder producers.26
Agility and a customer-centric mindset will be central themes to our supply chain journey in 2017-
2020. Our shared mission is to deliver superior value to our customers through agile, reliable service
and continuity of supply at optimized cost and with minimal environmental impact.27”
Ecolab. “Economic downturns, and in particular downturns in our larger markets including the
energy, foodservice, hospitality, travel, health care, food processing, pulp and paper, mining and steel
industries, can adversely impact our end-users. The well completion and stimulation, oil and gas
production and refinery and petrochemical plant markets served by our Global Energy segment may
be impacted by substantial fluctuations in oil and gas prices; in 2015 and 2016, the Global Energy
segment experienced decreased sales as a result of very challenging global energy market
conditions. In recent years, the weaker global economic environment, particularly in Europe and
emerging markets such as China and Brazil, has also negatively impacted many of our end-markets.
Weaker economic activity may continue to adversely affect these markets. During such cycles, these
end-users may reduce or discontinue their volume of purchases of cleaning and sanitizing products
and water treatment and process chemicals, which has had, and may continue to have, an adverse
effect on our business.28
Reported sales declined 3% to $13.2 billion in 2016 from $13.5 billion in 2015. Sales were negatively
impacted by unfavorable foreign currency exchange rates compared to the prior year. When
measured in fixed rates of foreign currency exchange, fixed currency sales were flat compared to the
prior year. See the section entitled “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” within this MD&A for further
information on our non-GAAP measures and the “Net Sales” table on page 30 and the “Sales by
Reportable Segment” table on page 36 for reconciliation information.29”
25
26
27
28
29

Dupont. “The weather also can affect the quality, volume and cost of seeds produced for sale as well
as demand and product mix. Seed yields can be higher or lower than planned, which could lead to
higher inventory and related-write-offs and affect the ability to supply.30
In 2016, we introduced nearly 1,600 new products into the marketplace, including our Pioneer® brand
Optimum® Leptra® hybrids, a powerful pyramid of traits that protects plant health, yield and grain
quality against a wide range of pests. The Optimum® Leptra® product lineup was one of the fastest
technology ramp-ups in DuPont Pioneer history and counted for nearly 70 percent of our sales in the
Brazil summer season.31 As a leading company in this space, we are uniquely positioned to seize this
opportunity, and we approved an investment in probiotic production facility expansion in New York
and Wisconsin of more than $100 million.32”
BASF. “The global economic environment in recent times has been challenging and marked by
increasing volatility and uncertainty. Concerns range from the slowing Chinese economy, falling oil
and commodity prices, to geo-political risks.33During the year, production volumes at your Company
plants increased over the previous year primarily due to commencement of commercial production at
the new plants at Dahej and Nellore. All the 10 plants at the Dahej site have commenced commercial
production resulting in higher output during the year under report.34”
30
2016 Dupont Annual Report, 2017, p. 13, http://investors.dupont.com/investor-relations/overview/default.aspx, accessed June 20, 2017
31
32
33
34

Recommendations
In supply chain benchmarking it is important to look at performance and improvement of peer
companies over time. Here we look critically at the chemical industry for the period of 2006-2016. In
these sectors, a focus on historic continuous improvement and believed best practices made the
industry slow to shift to market dynamics. As a result, the industry is stuck and even going backwards
in important metrics like growth, and inventory. As companies study supply chain excellence and
corporate performance, we recommend that supply chain leaders:
1) Build a Guiding Coalition to Drive Improvement Based on Industry-Specific Data.
Organizations should benchmark companies within an industry. Each industry has unique rhythms
and cycles. As a result, supply chain excellence analysis needs to be within an industry.
2) Understand Supply Chain Potential and Orchestrate Trade-offs on the Effective Frontier. The
supply chain is a complex system with interrelated metrics with nonlinear relationships. Supply
chain leadership teams should analyze the total portfolio of metrics and study progress at the
intersections of the Effective Frontier. Companies with higher performance are using more
advanced analytics to plan outcomes and design the supply chain.
Figure 6. The Supply Chain Effective Frontier
3) Apply Systems Theory. Teams should evaluate performance over time to understand
improvement while realizing they are managing a complex system. The functions should be aligned
to a balanced portfolio of metrics representing the Effective Frontier, while functional metrics should
be focused on improving reliability (e.g., first-pass yield, hands-free orders, and supplier quality,
etc.).

4) Focus on Building Value Networks. While many of these companies could be a powerbroker in
the industry to redefine outside-in processes, all companies are accepting the limitations of the
inside-out supply chain. They operate functional silos with a traditional supply paradigm. This is an
opportunity.
5) Learn from Other Industries. Use a Steady Hand/Focused Leadership to Drive Improvement.
To make the necessary improvements, companies today must move past an “ERP-centric view”
and build outside-in processes with a focus on value-based outcomes. Network design, supply
chain planning, and revenue management are opportunities for process excellence. The chemical
industry should turn to the high-tech industry to benchmark and drive innovation.
Conclusion
The shifts in the consumer value chain ups the ante for the supply chain team in the chemical
industry. Overall, the performance on the Supply Chain Metrics That Matter is stalled. To reverse this
trend, it is time to cast off traditional practices and redesign the supply chain, from the outside-in. This
includes better sensing, and translating demand, while building value networks. As a result, in the
chemical industry no company rises above and makes the 2017 Supply Chains to Admire list (driving
improvement faster than competitors while outperforming the industry).

Appendix
The Supply Chain Index is a measurement of supply chain improvement. We find that supply chain
leaders are usually above their peer group in performance, in the upper 2/3 of the Supply Chain
Index. Companies with low Supply Chain Index scores are usually driving improvement, but are new
at the journey, and as a result, the rate of change on Supply Chain Improvement is quicker than that
of a more mature company.
Table A. Performance Factor Analysis on the Supply Chain Index

Other Reports in This Series:
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: A Focus on the Chemical Industry
Published by Supply Chain Insights in November 2012
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: A Closer Look at Chemical Companies
Published by Supply Chain Insights in May 2014
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: A Closer Look at Consumer Products Companies
Published by Supply Chain Insights in June 2014
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter – A Focus on Chemical Companies – 2015
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: A Focus on Consumer Products – 2015
Published by Supply Chain Insights in August 2015
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: A Focus on the High-Tech Industry – 2015
Published by Supply Chain Insights in January 2016
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: A Focus on Pharmaceutical Companies – 2016
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: A Focus on Medical Device Companies – 2016
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: A Focus on Food and Beverage Companies-2016
Supply Chains to Admire 2014
Published by Supply Chain Insights in September 2014
Published by Supply Chain Insights in September 2015
Published by Supply Chain Insights in July 2016
These reports, and additional information on the Supply Chain Metrics That Matter methodology, are
available at our Supply Chain Insights website and in the Beet Fusion community.

About Supply Chain Insights LLC
Founded in February 2012 by Lora Cecere, Supply Chain Insights LLC is beginning its fifth year of
operation. The Company’s mission is to deliver independent, actionable, and objective advice for
supply chain leaders. If you need to know which practices and technologies make the biggest
difference to corporate performance, we want you to turn to us. We are a company dedicated to this
research. Our goal is to help leaders understand supply chain trends, evolving technologies and
which metrics matter.
About Lora Cecere
Lora Cecere (twitter ID @lcecere) is the Founder of Supply Chain Insights LLC and
the author of popular enterprise software blog Supply Chain Shaman currently read
by 15,000 supply chain professionals. She also writes as a Linkedin Influencer and
is a a contributor for Forbes. She has written five books. The first book, Bricks
Matter, (co-authored with Charlie Chase) published in 2012. The second book, The
Shaman’s Journal 2014, published in September 2014; the third book, Supply
Chain Metrics That Matter, published in December 2014; the fourth book, The
Shaman’s Journal 2015, published in September 2015, and the fifth book, The Shaman’s Journal
2016, published in September 2016. A sixth book will publish in September 2017.
With over 14 years as a research analyst with AMR Research, Altimeter Group, and Gartner
Group and now as the Founder of Supply Chain Insights, Lora understands supply chain. She has
worked with over 600 companies on their supply chain strategy and is a frequent speaker on the
evolution of supply chain processes and technologies. Her research is designed for the early adopter
seeking first mover advantage.
About Sam Borthwick
As a Research Associate, Samuel Borthwick analyzes balance sheet and income
statement data for the Supply Chains to Admire Report along with the monthly
Metrics That Matter series. A recent graduate of Purdue University, majoring in
Supply Chain Management, Sam loves data. He lives in Indianapolis, Indiana
where he enjoys playing tennis and spending time with his family.

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