Today’s supply chains are under immense pressure from every direction: climate volatility, rising costs, geopolitical tensions, and talent shortages. In 2024, nine in ten supply‑chain leaders reported significant disruptions, yet few had clear visibility into the risks ahead.
Against this backdrop, for the third consecutive year, Schneider Electric™ has been ranked first in the Gartner® Top 25 Supply Chain.
This is an honor we don’t take lightly. Their 2025 rankings evaluated three markers of leadership for more resilient supply chains: agentic AI, autonomous operations, and water stewardship. For us, these were essential from the start, and we moved quickly to embed them into our operations.
What others can learn from our experience is rooted in the journey itself. The urgency that drove our digital transformation, the choices we made, and the lessons we’ve learned have shaped five practical steps that can help other manufacturers chart their own path. We share them not to celebrate our success, but to offer a starting point for those ready to build more resilient, future-ready supply chains.
Step 1: Build a roadmap linking vision to execution
It’s challenging for many organizations to act beyond their benchmarks. In 2010, we began a staircase of transformation, where each step builds on the last:
- Simplifying our supply chain
- Tailoring it for different markets
- Digitizing for speed and agility
- Embedding sustainability
Each phase brought meaningful progress, and with it, new layers of complexity: more SKUs, additional factories, and increased regional demands. By 2017, it was clear that the next natural step was a move into digitization. We paired long-term vision with achievable near-term milestones, holding ourselves accountable along the way. With careful measurement, progress became tangible, and that discipline made our roadmap a reality.
The takeaway: digital transformation only works if it’s both ambitious and practical. A roadmap should fire up the boardroom and make sense on the shop floor—this is what brings measurable change across your supply chain.
Step 2: Establish a digital core model for scale
When you’re managing 150 factories across the globe, silos don’t just slow you down—they kill momentum. I still remember sitting in a room back in March 2017 with colleagues from the U.S., China, India, and Europe. What struck me was that, despite our different locations, we all spoke the same “operational language” in the Schneider Performance System (SPS). This system, having been utilized across our manufacturing sites for over 15 years, provided a common foundation for our operations. That moment made it clear; alignment at the core meant we could scale globally from day one.
We anchored our transformation in digital core models designed on SPS. These models created real-time visibility across operations: from structured asset management to tools that empower the workforce to make decisions directly affecting product quality, process efficiency, and corrective actions. But here’s the key: we didn’t always choose the “perfect” tool; we chose the tools we could scale everywhere.
The takeaway: a single brilliant pilot doesn’t transform a supply chain. Forget the perfect demo. Pick what can scale. Standardize the foundation, and every site gains the ability to perform, adapt, and grow.
Step 3: Scalability, deployment, and standardization
Many manufacturers get stuck in “sandbox mode,” where promising proofs of concept can’t seem to scale. We were determined not to fall into that trap. Our key advantage was a commitment to scalability, deployment, and most of all, standardization.
Fifteen years ago, Schneider Electric made a bold move: we unified under a single global supply chain organization. That choice created a consistent structure where every new digital initiative was designed with global rollout in mind.
That consistency also allowed us to leverage regional strengths—speed in Asia, rigor in Europe, and scalability in the U.S. By designing with these dynamics in mind, we were able to scale digital programs efficiently without losing momentum.
The takeaway: transformation doesn’t happen in a sandbox. Focus on scalability and standardization from the start, and every pilot becomes a step forward to global deployment.
Step 4: Tie digital to sustainability goals
One moment I’ll never forget was hearing a shop-floor operator say they felt better equipped with digital tools at home than at work. That was a wake-up call, and it sparked a bold ambition: to digitize and modernize over 100 of our manufacturing and distribution sites worldwide, transforming them into beacons of efficiency, sustainability, and resilience. Today, our sites are more connected and better equipped than ever.
From the outset, we linked digital transformation to our sustainability goals. That meant:
- Cutting carbon emissions
- Conserving energy
- Embedding water stewardship into operations
Digital transformation didn’t just make our factories smarter—it made them more sustainable. That alignment gave our teams a deeper sense of purpose and reassured regulators, investors, and customers that this wasn’t just a surface-level change, but a meaningful shift toward building future-ready operations.
The takeaway: don’t separate digital and ESG goals. The most resilient supply chains can run them together—one accelerates the other.
Step 5: Accelerate transformation with the right partners
Not every company has the bandwidth to transform while running day-to-day operations. That’s where the right partner makes a difference. At Schneider Electric, we work alongside our customers to co-design their digital transformation programs in manufacturing and supply chains, fill capability gaps, and share the lessons we’ve learned through our own journey.
I’ll be candid: some of our most valuable conversations don’t lead to immediate projects. In fact, they often prompt customers to pause and reflect, realizing that cultural readiness is just as critical as technical capability. In those moments, our role is to help them set the right structures in place first, so when transformation does begin, it has the best chance to succeed.
The takeaway: don’t go it alone. Bring in partners who can help you prepare, execute, and help you build your own muscle, so your transformation rests on solid ground.
Looking ahead
External acknowledgements affirm the direction we’ve taken, but the real impact comes from helping our customers achieve meaningful results of their own. If you’re ready to accelerate your own digital transformation, explore how the right partner can support your journey.
For a deeper dive into the findings behind this recognition, access the Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 reprint here.
Source: Gartner, “Supply Chain Top 25 for 2025,” May 2025.
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