A team from Ohio State’s Fisher College of Business took first place last month at Michigan State University’s inaugural Graduate Supply Chain Challenge.
Second-year Master of Business Administration students Chandramouli Bharadwaj Raman, Kalpesh Shah, Kevin Stanley and their adviser Marc Ankerman made up the first-place team.
Nine of the top 15 supply chain management schools participated. University of Wisconsin’s team placed second, and Michigan State’s team placed third.
Supply chain management is the process of buying products from different parts of the world, following the production, shipment and distribution of those products, and maintaining relationships with both customers and suppliers.
The challenge was based on a simulated computer program using real-time competitive supply chain management strategy, called Supply Chain Operations Decision Environment. The program gave the teams many factors to consider, such as which manufacturers would make their products, where to buy supplies and how to ship them, and how much of everything they would need.
Each team got a trial version of the software the day before the actual simulation to help them prepare for the tournament. The challenge lasted more than three-and-a-half hours.
The challenge was judged on four categories: inventory, order fulfillment, total revenue and supply chain contribution. Instead of trying to come in first in all four categories, the OSU team focused on the last three.
Because of this, some teams thought OSU’s team did not know how to manage its inventory and therefore would not be able to win, Shah said. Although OSU’s team did score low in the inventory category, it made up for it by placing in the top four of the other three categories, including a first place score of 100 percent in order fulfillment.
Some other factors the team considered were how to transport the supplies and how to raise revenues. The team decided shipping by sea was unreliable and shipping by air was costly, so all of its shipping was done on land. To raise revenue, Raman realized they could raise prices and lower the quantity of supplies needed.
Stanley said he was pleased with the team’s first-place finish, but the host school didn’t share the same feelings.
“They [Michigan State] weren’t happy that we won, but luckily the administrator [of the challenge] is an OSU alum,” Stanley said. “He said, ‘If we couldn’t win, I wanted you guys to win.'”
