Top logistics students from the United States and Europe traveled to the
Sam's Club home offices in Bentonville, Ark., to compete in the annual Sam M.
Walton College of Business International Graduate Logistics Case Competition on
Oct. 22-24, 2009.
The event was managed by the Supply Chain
Management Research Center in Sam M. Walton College of Business at the
University of Arkansas.
International teams dominated the competition wins with Darmstadt University
of Technology in Darmstadt, Germany, taking first and Chalmers University of
Technology in Gottenburg, Sweden, capturing the third place slot. The University
of Wisconsin-Madison finished second. The competition host sponsor, Sam's Club,
and an alliance of Supply Chain Management Research Center board member
companies sponsored the event.
Johnnie Dobbs, executive vice president of logistics and supply chain
management for Walmart Stores Inc., opened the event on Oct. 22 and took time to
meet with the faculty representatives the following day. Tommy Conner, global
head of Reuse Operations for Braiform, announced this year's winners at the
closing night banquet held at the Bentonville Clarion on Oct. 24. The top three
finishers were awarded $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000, respectively.
 "We
are honored to bring together graduate logistics students from 11 major
universities," said Jim Crowell, director of the Supply Chain Management
Research Center. "This year's case `Braiform Hanger Reuse Program, a Retail
Service of Spotless Group Limited' was especially unique. The two primary
characters in the case, Tommy Conner, global head of Reuse Operations, and Becky
Herdt, program manager for the Americas, were present and introduced to the
students after the final presentations at the Sam's Club auditorium on Saturday.
In addition, Stefania Tattoni, a Ph.D. candidate from the University of Rome and
case writer, flew in from Italy so that the students had an opportunity to meet
the case principals and authors. Terry Tremwel, center research director and
principal case author, coordinated the global collaboration that created this
case."
Each team competed as a "supply chain business consultant" hired by Braiform
to design a global supply chain management system that would convince additional
U.S. retailers to switch to a hanger-reuse program managed by Braiform.
Currently, a majority of hangers used in the retail apparel industry are one-way
hangers that may or may not be recycled. In a hanger-reuse program, hangers are
collected at the retail store; sorted, washed and shipped back to apparel
manufacturers overseas to meet up with new garments; and then shipped and sold
in U.S. stores. In their presentations for the retailers, students demonstrated
how Braiform's in-store training programs and collaborative capabilities could
link together supply chain partners on four continents to manage a flow of 2.2
billion reuse hangers for the U.S. retail garment marketplace. Economic and
environmental savings were critical component of each team's presentations.
In addition to the case competition, students participated in corporate
interview sessions and tours of the Wal-Mart Innovation Center in Bentonville
and the Sam's Club store in Fayetteville.
Judy McReynolds, the incoming president and chief executive officer of
Arkansas Best Corp., was among the18 industry judges for the case competition.
Judges also included logistic, financial and management executives from several
of the event sponsors.
Students from the winning teams include:
- Darmstadt University of Technology (Germany) - Sebastian Dreher,
Alexadner von Scheven, Jan von Appen, Bjoen Schmeisser and Ulrich Berbner.
Faculty representative for the team are David Thomas and Holger Koehler.
- University of Wisconsin-Madison M.B.A. Team (United States): Samy Affo,
Mark Adkins, Amber Sleichter, Jennie Meresak, Ajay Balasubramaniam and
Christopher Gajdostik. The M.B.A. team was accompanied by faculty
representative, Peter Lukszys.
- Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden): Oskar Persson, Jonas
Dalsenius, Frída Sigrídur Jóhannsdóttir, Azadeh Moazami, Cheng Yiou Luo and
Kristina Liljestrand. The faculty representative was Ola Hultkrantz.
Participating universities include Brigham Young University, University of
Arkansas, University of Maryland, University of Minnesota, University of
Wisconsin-Madison, Michigan State University, Pennsylvania State University,
Iowa State University, Texas Christian University, Darmstadt University of
Technology and Chalmers University of Technology.
The host sponsor for the competition was Sam's Club. The platinum sponsors
were ABF Freight System Inc. and Unilever. Gold sponsors included: General
Mills, FedEx Freight, Walmart Stores Inc. and the Walton College Center for
Retail Excellence. Silver sponsors included: E. & J. Gallo Winery, J.B. Hunt
Transport Services Inc., Procter & Gamble, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare and
Transplace. The Bronze sponsor was Colgate-Palmolive. Patron sponsors were BNSF
Logistics, CSCMP Ozark Roundtable and Tyson Foods Inc.
The Supply Chain Management Research Center serves as a direct link between
the private sector and the University of Arkansas supply chain resources. It
sponsors activities that promote both the academic and general body of knowledge
encompassing supply chain management. It also supports student-focused
activities centered on recruitment, retention and graduation.
CONTACTS
Jim Crowell, director, Supply Chain
Management Research Center
Sam M. Walton College of Business
479-575-6107, jcrowell@walton.uark.edu
Monica Sprankell, program coordinator
Sam M. Walton College of Business
479-575-7334,
msprankell@walton.uark.edu
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