Integrated supply management students—from left to right, Peyton Hurley, Alexandra Henson, Madison Dober and Connor McKenney—finished in first place at the General Motors/Wayne State University Supply Chain Case Competition.
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—A team of Western Michigan University integrated supply management students finished in first place at the General Motors/Wayne State University Supply Chain Case Competition held Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 in Detroit. The team from the WMU Haworth College of Business bested more than 16 teams from top supply chain management programs.
This year’s case involved sourcing battery trays for the GMC Hummer EV and BrightDrop Electric Delivery Van. The team was tasked with developing recommendations for supplier selection based on numerous criteria, including location, quality, cost and capacity considerations. In addition, they addressed the logistics challenge of packaging for battery trays. For the final round, the team presented their solution to GM judges regarding a raw material shortage that would impact the production of the battery trays. The case represented the types of opportunities that supply chain professionals work with every day.
“This year’s competition was particularly interesting as it looked at how future innovation, product launches and business strategy influence the supply chain decision process,” says Tom Kelly, instructor of supply chain and faculty coach for the team. “These types of events are a key part of the educational process as they allow students a great chance for real-world application of supply chain concepts. It was very exciting to see how knowledgeable and well-prepared our students were regarding supply chain topics. We are all proud of the team; they stayed focused, worked together and used their backgrounds to address the challenges of the case.”
The winning team
The team leveraged integrated supply management coursework and individual experience from internships in the supply chain field to create a solution that addressed real issues companies face. The students brought a creative solution to a multifaceted supply chain problem that General Motors presented to them, and they shaped their research, analysis and presentation with each team member’s strengths in mind.
- Sophomore Madison Dober, of Lake Orion, highlighted General Motors’ values and mission, which supported the team’s supplier and risk mitigation recommendations.
- Junior Alexandra Henson, of Allen Park, used real-world situations from General Motors to come up with a creative risk mitigation solution to combat a supplier shortage.
- Senior Peyton Hurley, of Lawton, drew on his internship experience from Stryker to focus on creating new logistical pathways for the supplier of choice.
- Senior Connor McKenney, of Warren, used knowledge from his Marathon Petroleum Corporation co-op to conduct the cost decision analysis on each supplier.
"For WMU to be the only team to ever win this competition twice speaks volumes about our program,” says Henson. “To be able to succeed in this competition while competing against some of the top-ranked supply chain programs in the United States instilled confidence in all of us. It reinforced that as a student at Western I am surrounded by some of the best supply chain students in the nation and, luckily enough, some those excellent students were my teammates."
About the program
WMU's integrated supply management program has been recognized nationally by several organizations for its leadership in preparing students for careers in the industry. The program is consistently ranked on Gartner's list of top U.S. supply chain undergraduate programs. The integrated supply management curriculum emphasizes logistics, information technology, continuous improvement and engineering, and requires students to acquire business experience through internships and classroom projects.
Competition participants
- Bowling Green State University
- Central Michigan University
- Colorado State University
- Grand Valley State University
- Indiana University, Indianapolis
- Iowa State University
- Kansas State University
- Miami University
- Michigan State University
- New Mexico State University
- University of North Dakota
- University of Northern Iowa
- The Ohio State University
- Texas Tech University
- Wayne State University
- Weber State University
- West Virginia University
- Western Michigan University
For more WMU news, arts and events, visit WMU News online.