In their first appearance at a national case competition sponsored by the
Denver Transportation Club, three undergraduate students from the Neeley School
of Business at TCU claimed victory over some of the most prestigious supply
chain programs in the country, including two-time defending champions Arizona
State University, Michigan State University, University of Arkansas, Georgia
Southern University, Clarkson University, the University of West Florida and
John Carroll University. The Neeley team, sponsored by the Supply and Value
Chain Center at the Neeley School of Business, included Jeff DeArment, Trey
Davis and Carsten Frederikson, all majors in the new Supply Chain program at
TCU. Teams from all other universities had five students each.
The Denver Transportation Club hosts the annual conference and undergraduate
student case competition as a part of its Operation Stimulus transportation
project, a think-tank environment for innovation in the transportation and
logistics industries. The competition draws teams of premier undergraduates
together in an interactive forum where difficult real-life business problems are
reviewed and addressed. Solutions are presented to executive judges from
national transportation and logistics firms such as Ryder Integrated Logistics
and JB Hunt, as well as those firms who rely on their services, such as IBM and
Cintas.
Chad Autry, assistant professor of Supply Chain Management, led the team and
captured these comments from executives in attendance as they congratulated the
winning team:
“TCU won because they were able to see what the others couldn't - that
events that (impact) the firm also create a ripple effect through the supply
chain that everyone has to deal with...and they were able to develop solutions
that considered not only our problems, but the issues facing all.”
“We didn't know anything about the TCU team, and there were only three of
them, but they were the only team that seemed as though they were actually in
touch with what we faced in Louisiana.”
The tournament consisted of two rounds: a preliminary in which students
addressed shipping and transportation problems associated with southern
customers and service providers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and a final
playoff pairing the two finalists. The playoff consisted of a debate where
additional constraints were applied to the problem, and a revised solution was
formulated and presented. In the preliminary round, the TCU team took down
Clarkson University, the University of West Florida and John Carroll University,
and stunned two-time defending champions Arizona State University. They finished
off the perennial power from the University of Arkansas to advance to the
finals.
In the finals, TCU met Georgia Southern University, a team who had reached
the final round after toppling Michigan State, University of Denver and
Syracuse. In the end, the trio from the Neeley School of Business at TCU was
victorious by a 15 percent margin based on scoring from the final-round judges.
Each student walked away with a cash prize, a pocket full of business cards and
the traveling Operation Stimulus plaque engraved with names of past winners.
The Supply Chain program, established at the Neeley School of Business in
2001, offers executive programs such as the annual Global Supply Chain
Conference, an MBA Certificate program, and the newly offered undergraduate
major.
“This was a significant step for these three students and the Neeley School
Supply Chain Program as a whole,” said Charles Lamb, Chair, Department of
Information Systems and Supply Chain Management at the Neeley School of
Business. “Undergraduate teams from the ‘big name’ supply chain and logistics
programs attend and the competition is intense. National bragging rights are at
stake, as are cash prizes and valuable job interviews. These three students
earned national respect for themselves and the Neeley School of Business at
TCU.”
For more information on the Neeley Supply Chain Program, visit www.svcc.tcu.edu.
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