Ohio State University has taken top honours at the sixth annual General Motors and Wayne State University supply chain case awards.
This year, 20 schools, including three international institutions from Brazil, Mexico and Poland, met in Detroit to compete for the main prize.
The competition introduces students to the issues and challenges involved in producing leading technology vehicles through a case study. This year’s case addressed global purchasing and logistics issues related to the Chevrolet Bolt.
The 20 teams were divided into five groups and participated in an initial round, after which the five winning teams received a case twist and prepared a second presentation for the final round.
Dr John Taylor, chair of the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management at Wayne State’s Mike Ilitch School of Business, said this year’s case was one of the most comprehensive to date, involving a variety of supplier quality and cost issues that students had to sort through.
Teams from Weber State University, Bowling Green State University, Centro Universitário da FEI São Bernardo do Campo Campus (Brazil) and the University of Northern Iowa rounded out the field of finalists.
All the students taking part are given the opportunity to interview for internships and permanent positions with event sponsors and partners. More than 450 students have now participated since the first competition in 2011.
