Deloitte Report Gives Atlanta High Marks for Supply Chain Connectivity

This week's Atlanta-themed session at the CSCMP EDGE Conference launched a new report by Deloitte establishing metro Atlanta's national rankings in supply chain. The region placed second among seven cities, behind only New York City.

The Deloitte study found that 20 percent of the top 100 IT logistics providers maintain a presence in metro Atlanta – a concentration tied with New York City for first in the nation. There are 17 corporate innovation centers in the metro region fully or partially focused on supply chain concepts. Atlanta's cost of living is 33 percent below the average for all studied regions, and Atlanta's talent catchment area includes four of the top 25 supply chain institutions, of which Georgia Tech had the largest program among the top 25. Other strengths put the region ahead of comparison regions in overall low cost of doing business and cost-effective warehousing.

In an interview with SCMR, Jeff Cashman, Senior Vice President, Business Development, Manhattan Associates, says the Atlanta model can work in many other American cities.

“Atlanta's success is based on government agencies, academic institutions and businesses coming together to create a powerful coalition with a common mission and a strong sense of urgency,” he adds.

The Deloitte study is the first phase of #SupplyChainCity, an initiative created by the Metro Atlanta Chamber. The initiative is chaired by The Home Depot's Vice President of Direct Fulfillment and Delivery Stephanie Smith.

“At The Home Depot, pursuing innovation within supply chain has been our model,” Smith said. “We have made recent investments in infrastructure and technology to improve service and flexibility for our customers, and Atlanta's assets in digital supply chain transformation have been critical in this regard.”

The Deloitte report features four comparison categories that each city was measured by: corporate activity, talent/education, technology, and policy and ecosystem infrastructure. The comparison regions in the study were picked for blending strong technology and logistics clusters. They included the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York City/New Jersey, Seattle and Atlanta.

Over the past few years, traditional supply chain has evolved to digital supply networks. According to the 2017 MHI Annual Industry Report, key surveys show that 80 percent of supply chain executives believe the digital supply chain will be the predominate model within five years.

“With the support of our business community and in partnership with Deloitte, we were able to highlight metro Atlanta's competitive edge as a global leader in inventing supply chains of the future,” said Metro Atlanta Chamber President and CEO Hala Moddelmog. “This report demonstrates that our region is ahead of the curve in thinking about digitalization and that we're already poised as a frontrunner in this key industry sector.”

Georgia is a thriving hub for U.S. transportation, home to more than 12,300 logistics providers employing over 150,000 workers. Georgia connects to the rest of the world through the fastest-growing and most efficient port in the U.S. in Savannah. Nationally, the metro region is connected to three major interstates, is home to four intermodal rail terminals and the world's most-traveled airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The CSCMP EDGE 2017 Conference is taking place at the Georgia World Congress Center and is one of the top supply chain conferences in North America. Attendees heard from many of Atlanta's top business talents through panels featuring the leaders of The Home Depot, The Coca-Cola Company, Manhattan Associates, Cisco Systems, UPS, Georgia Tech, Roadie, Deloitte and many others.

“With CSCMP EDGE 2017, we convene the top figures and organizations in our industry and provide a real depth of resources to our attendees,” said Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals President and CEO Rick Blasgen. We see Atlanta as a center node in the digital supply chain ecosystem and therefore a natural host city on our conference circuit.”

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