In the last month, PepsiCo’s supply chain efforts have been recognized among our peer companies and held in high esteem. I say this not to boast, but to express my utmost pride and recognize the PepsiCo associates across the globe who contribute to our procurement and distribution efforts.
In June, the Distribution Business Management Association (DBM Association) honored PepsiCo with the CIRCLE of Excellence Award, given each year to a company for achieving operational excellence and displaying a commitment to sustainability. The annual recipient is chosen by an international panel of judges who find a company has upheld and exceeded CIRCLE qualities of Consistency, Integrity, Responsibility, Commitment, Leadership, and Experience. The judging is based on past demonstrated programs, current corporate commitments and plans for continued commitment.
Within PepsiCo, our Purpose sustainability planks are inextricably linked to Performance; we’re able to look at sustainability with a long-term lens. Many companies can perform well in one year, but we’re encouraged to continue to strive for ways to do better, be more efficient, and preserve natural resources, which will be good for business and the community year after year.
The judges were particularly impressed by PepsiCo’s dedication to sustainability, not only in the environmental sense, but also in the realm of human and talent sustainability, as well as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts, such as our support of local communities and our commitment to investing in healthier products and nutrition education.
John Phillips (second from left) accepts the DBM Association CIRCLE of Excellence award.
I’m also proud to be named to Gartner’s Supply Chain Top 25, a prestigious listing of the world’s best supply chains and practices around supply, demand and product management, with this year’s themes focusing on how we deal with volatility, value chain integration and sustainable execution.
This is the third year in a row PepsiCo has finished in Gartner’s top ten, but PepsiCo was specifically recognized this year as a perennial leader for our advanced direct store delivery (DSD) capabilities – notably, in the past year we shifted Gatorade from our small-format model to our DSD system, which has already seen positive results. Gartner also recognized PepsiCo’s acquisition of its two largest bottlers last year, which has made the company more vertically integrated and led to greater supply chain resiliency and speed in getting products to market.
While the work of supply chain may not get a lot of attention, sourcing materials and delivering products to retail in a sustainable way are the types of issues that keep me and my colleagues around the world excited and challenged day to day and what allows our consumers to enjoy our products around the world. Again, a big thank you to the entire PepsiCo team.
For more on how PepsiCo finds efficiencies in its supply chain, read an interview with Grace Puma, SVP, Chief Procurement Officer.
