For the second year in a row, a team of Harvey Mudd College students has won top honors at the regional APICS (American Production and Inventory Control Society) student case competition. Bohan Gao \u201919, Anjaneya Malpani \u201918, Ramita Kondepudi \u201918 and Peter Leung \u201919 (Pitzer) will head to Chicago in September to compete in the final round, to be held during the annual APICS conference. The regional competition was sponsored by APICS, the professional association for supply chain management, and\u00a0Deloitte Consulting,\u00a0a professional services firm.<\/p>\n
Advised by Kash Gokli, professor of manufacturing practice and Engineering Clinic director, the students joined over 200 teams entering the 2017\u20132018 case competition in October 2017.\u00a0After advancing through two virtual rounds, the Harvey Mudd team entered the West Coast regional competition last month. Other regional competitions were held simultaneously in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Chicago, Mexico City, Parsippany and Toronto.\u00a0Eight teams from universities\/colleges in four countries will compete in the final round.<\/p>\n
Gokli assembled the team with students from his E183 course, Management of Technical Enterprise, in which they learned fundamentals of business, engineering economics, investment and finance, all skills that come in handy in supply chain problem solving. \u201cWe weren\u2019t sure how we\u2019d compare against the MBAs because none of us have deep supply chain knowledge, so we were pleasantly surprised and really excited to see that we knew enough to win,\u201d says Kondepudi.<\/p>\n
The team was presented with a supply chain case which mimicked a Mexico-based electronics company\u2019s daily operations. Initially, they were given basic information, like financial documents and market analysis, and asked to determine whether the company should expand its operations to Brazil or not. As the competition proceeded, they were given more information, which added the extra challenge of having to reassess their ideas and possibly change course.<\/p>\n
Over six hours, the team developed a plan for the company and\u2014key to their success in the competition\u2014a convincing presentation for the judges. \u201cMost important in the end,\u201d says Leung, \u201cisn\u2019t whether your solution is correct because there are many possible solutions. It\u2019s how can you make the best story that\u2019s presentable and convincing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s where the skills from our classes and Clinic really help,\u201d says Malapani. \u201cWe were able to analyze the data, make sound decisions, provide strong solutions and then tell a good story with a presentation that helped us win the competition. Winning against so many teams, including MBAs in supply chain analytics, was very rewarding to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though they have no idea what the final-round assignment will be, Gokli and the students are eager to attend the final competition. \u201cI\u2019m excited to see the variety of teams competing in the global round,\u201d says Kondepudi, noting the breadth of idea sharing and networking opportunity an event like this provides.<\/p>\n
A first-place finish would also be nice. \u201cI\u2019m excited to see if we can win there, too!\u201d says Malpani.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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