Flextronics wins top supply chain innovation award at CSCMP conference

Flextronics won the first-place award in the 2014 Supply Chain Innovation Award competition at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ (CSCMP) Annual Global Conference held recently in San Antonio, Texas.

Sears Holdings Corporation (SHC) earned second-place honors.

“The winning case focused on the development, capabilities, and benefits of Flextronics’ Customer Innovation Center,” said Eric Peltz, CSCMP’s Research Strategies Committee chair and associate director, National Security Research Division, RAND Corporation. “The center provides game-changing capabilities for startups and established firms alike to go from idea to full market rollout in a short period of time. This is critical in the rapidly evolving electronics space, such as wearable technologies. I was impressed with how diligently they integrated the ability to quickly fill every need in the new product launch process. Flextronics’ customers BIO-RAD Laboratories and ICEdot demonstrated the benefits that these new initiatives are now providing.”

“Flextronics is committed to providing innovative supply chain solutions and operational excellence at all of our facilities, including our Customer Innovation Center in Silicon Valley,” said Zahid Hussain, vice president of operations at Flextronics. “We are truly honored to receive the 2014 Supply Chain Innovation Award. The award is a testament to our capabilities and unwavering dedication to enabling and scaling innovation, while exceeding customer expectations. On behalf of the entire company, I would like to thank CSCMP for recognizing Flextronics with this prestigious award. I’d also like to thank the Flextronics team members in Milpitas, California for all of their hard work and dedication.”

The SHC team took home the runner-up award for its innovative omni-channel solution that utilizes a rapidly adjustable subset of stores and its distribution center (DC) network for online fulfillment. This has resulted in faster delivery, improved customer experience, and peak capacity response.

“Omni-channel fulfillment is at the core of SHC’s integrated retail strategy,” said Jeff Starecheski, SHC vice president supply chain. “It is a critical component of serving our customers on their terms. It is exciting for us to be recognized by CSCMP with this award for leveraging our supply chain to dramatically improve the customer experience. We believe that the creation of an ‘any-to-any’ supply chain that unlocks the capacity of our stores and entire distribution network will be the best-in-class solution for omni-channel retailers.”

The winning cases were selected from a field of five finalist teams recognized during the closing session of CSCMP’s conference. “The teams were selected from a field of more than 35 submitted case studies, and were invited to present their innovations during the conference,” said Judith M. Whipple, chair of the Supply Chain Innovation Award team for CSCMP’s Research Strategies Committee, and professor in the Department of Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University. “Committee members look forward to another exciting competition next year in San Diego, which will mark the program’s 11th year.”

The Supply Chain Innovation Award competition was part of CSCMP’s annual conference, which was attended by nearly 2,600 supply chain and logistics management professionals from all over the world. The award recognizes innovations created by corporate supply chain teams that demonstrate quantifiable and sustainable cost savings, as well as revenue-generating or customer-satisfaction achievements.

CSCMP members and 2014 conference attendees may access this year’s Supply Chain Innovation Award winning and finalist case studies and 2015 submission guidelines at cscmp.org under the Career & Awards menu by clicking on the Supply Chain Innovation Award link.