On Demand? is for IBM not merely a punchy advertising campaign for its solutions offerings but also the essence of a massive, on-going internal corporate transformation on which the company is staking much of its future. Few companies can match IBM?s boldness in putting the supply chain at the dead center of the enterprise. Indeed, supply chain officers at the top tiers of the corporation are responsible not only for manufacturing and distribution processes, but also such areas as customer satisfaction, order-to-cash cycles and even a newly launched cross-departmental ?deal hub? that manages IBM?s highly complex end-to-end sales process that will free up time for sales teams to spend more with clients.

In selecting IBM as the ?best in class? from among an eminent list of 2006 honorees (see the profiles of the other top nominees included in this issue), AMR Research underscored the company?s success in unifying the vast, dispersed procurement and logistics activities of this international giant ($90 billion annual sales, 330,000 employees).

Tellingly, IBM now regards the supply chain expertise it has gained over a dozen years of internal transformation to be itself an intellectual asset to be brought to market and monetized as a solutions offering (including software, hardware and consulting). Top management has high hopes for the potential of such outsourcing services?typically beginning with procurement, ideally expanding to full spectrum supply chain management generically marketed as Business Performance Transformation Services (BPTS).

In recognition of such bold managerial initiatives, Boston-based AMR Research, a recognized leader in supply chain research and management consulting, has chosen IBM as World Trade?s 2006 Manufacturer of the Year for Global Supply Chain Excellence, joining previous winners Procter & Gamble (2004) and Ford Motor Company (2005).