Design Competition
The College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE) sponsors an annual material handling student design competition for teams of students interested in the analysis and design of material handling systems. Since the first design competition was offered during the 1994-1995 academic year, student design teams have developed material handling system designs for a variety of manufacturing and warehousing operations. Design problems are drawn from the case files of designers and manufacturers of material handling equipment and their end users. See the links below regarding the current design competition and the summaries of the past design competitions. The 2014-2015 case was provided by St. Onge.
Cash Prizes.CICMHE is pleased to co-sponsor the 2014-2015 competition with the Order Fulfillment Solutions (OFS) council. In addition to CICMHE’s existing cash prizes, OFS support has boosted the payouts to $2000, $1500, and $1000 to the First, Second, and Third place teams, plus $500 for each placing department. OFS co-sponsorship will also enable the top three finishing faculty advisors to attend MODEX 2016 show being held in Atlanta, GA.
2014-2015 Design Competition Case Now Available
The 2014-2015 design competition case overview and judging criteria files are now available in the links below. The full design case and data are now available. Note that again this year, faculty advisors will need to request the associated case information from CICMHE at cicmhe[at]mhi[dot]org. A link will then be provided to the faculty advisors that they can share with their teams to download the data and begin work on the case. Please carefully read the Case Rules and Procedures.
Fair Traders. This case study focuses on a facility project at Fair Traders, an exceptional source for unique handmade gifts, jewelry, home decor, art and sculpture, textiles, serve ware, and personal accessories representing the diverse cultures of artisans in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Fair Traders distributes products from their distribution center which services their retail outlets throughout the United States, a consignment sales events business, and their emerging direct-to-customer (DTC) business. The DTC business volume is growing rapidly and is expected to continue its rapid growth over the next few years. The focus of this student design case is on the DTC business. Fair Trader is actively seeking assistance in identifying the opportunities for improving their processes, particularly in light of an expected volume growth in both the upcoming year and the following year.
2013-2014 Design Competition Sponsors
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| www.CICMHE.org | www.MHI.org/OFS | www.stonge.com |
Competition Resources
Past Winners
The 2013-2014 case was developed by Reddwerks, Corp.
This case study focuses the picking processes at ABC, Inc, a major retail chain with over 200 brick-and- mortar stores. Due to recent changes in the order patterns, ABC is forced to reconsider its current structure with 2 distribution centers (East Coast and West Coast). Considering new demands such as online orders, and Type I, II, & III small stores, the teams were challenged to create the best possible solution for ABC’s picking and distribution needs. The information contained in this case study has been developed to provide a real world situation.
Judging
A mixture of academic and industry judges evaluated the entries according to the criteria of improved efficiencies, no location changes to current DCs, and improved return on investment, as well as the overall quality of the report.
First Place
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($2,000 split among the team plus $500 for the department) Alex Bones, William Bryan, Ciarra Loli and Annelise Weinmann Montana State University Duward K. Sobek II, Advisor |
Second Place
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($1,500 split among the teams plus $500 for the department) Nathan Biviano, Erika Bliss, Christopher Fenn and Samantha Reinhart Rochester Institute of Technology Tony DiVasta, Advisor |
Third Place
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($1,000 split among the teams plus $500 for the department) Aditya Kasukhela, Benjamin Howisen, Justin Holsworth and Ting Xiao University of Texas at Arlington K. Jamie Rogers, Advisor |
The 2012-2013 case was developed by TranSystems.
This case study focuses on a facility retrofit project at CW Sports, a major sporting goods distributor. The sporting goods industry has been growing significantly for the last decade, thanks to a variety reasons including the ability to prosper even during poor economic conditions. The Engineering Team at CW Sports is challenged with retrofitting the current distribution center to meet the demands of growth and the new acquisition of an emerging athletic footwear brand. The information contained in this case study has been developed to provide a real world situation in regard to designing a facility retrofit to improve throughput capacity, increase product storage, increase forward pick locations, and introduce distribution of an emerging footwear brand.
Judging
A mixture of academic and industry judges evaluated the entries according to the criteria of product flow, equipment selection, space utilization, operational plan, implementation plan, economic justification, overall integration, conclusions, and overall quality of report.
First Place
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($2,000 split among the team plus $500 for the department) Margaret Bates, Jessica Jeffrey, Alexandra Woodward, and Justine Nichols Rochester Institute of Technology Andres Carrano, Advisor |
Second Place
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($1500 to each team to be split among the team members, plus $500 for each department) Joe Johnson, Molly Martin, Nate Powell, and Colter Schilling Montana State Durward K. Sobek II, Advisor |
Third Place
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($1000 to each team to be split among the team members, plus $500 for each department) Abinaya Ulagappa, Shreyas Panambur, Cesar Solis, and John Curlin Texas A&M Andrew Johnson, Advisor |
The 2011-2012 case was developed by West Monroe Partners.
MegaSteelTool's 600,000 square foot plant in Buffalo, NY, U.S.A., manufactures a variety of steel tools and distributes them to its clients across the world. The company is mainly recognized for the quality of its products. MegaSteelTool is proud to be certified for the ISO 9001-2008 quality standard.
In the last three years, MegaSteelTool has been penetrating the Asian and South-American markets. This recent success generated a total of 30% annual sales increase over the last three years. It has resulted in the current facility being running over capacity and the company having to recurrently rely on subcontractors in the last two years to meet its commitments toward its clients. The usage of subcontractors has been a costly operation, both in terms of quality and production costs.
After an extensive analysis, the company has determined that it would like to construct a new manufacturing plant to be located in Phoenix, (AZ, U.S.A.). This new plant will take a load of the actual plant. The operations at the plant of Buffalo will remain. The mission of the Buffalo plant will focus on the production of high volume - standardized products. The new plant will have to handle the production of high mix – low volume items. The exact location is not fixed yet and may change. The company desires to build a "state-of-the-art" new plant enabling it to sustain and improve its competitive advantage in the global market.
Judging
A mixture of academic and industry judges evaluated the entries according to the criteria of product flow, equipment selection, space utilization, operational plan, implementation plan, economic justification, overall integration, conclusions, and overall quality of report.
First Place
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($2,000 split among the team plus $500 for the department) Austin Chacosky, Bridget Eggers, Matthew Myers, and Leila Rozenman Rochester Institute of Technology Andres Carrano, Advisor |
Second Place (Tie)
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($1250 to each team to be split among the team members, plus $500 for each department) Mohamed Adan, Tigist Desta, Kate Fisher, and Jesse Walters Ohio State University Jerald Brevick, Advisor Gabriel Bertini, Teresa Creech, Alyssa DeYoung, and Megan Hinterberger Penn State University DJ Medeiros, Advisor |
The 2010-2011 case was developed by St. Onge Company.
This year’s case study, SCS Stores, has been developed to provide a real world situation in regard to designing a functional and efficient distribution center facility that supports both retail store replenishment and internet order fulfillment in a high growth environment.
SCS Stores’ engineering team has been challenged to develop plans for the construction and equipping of a new distribution center. SCS Stores operates 665 superstores all across the United States. The big-box outlets offer a variety o TVs, DVD players, and audio systems, as well as CDs and DVDs, personal computer and peripherals, mobile computing devices, telephones, movies and video games. SCS currently has two distribution centers, which are both currently running over capacity and there is insufficient opportunity to expand further in the existing buildings.
First Place
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($2,000 split among the team plus $500 for the department) Dan Mashack, Rachel Belyavsky, Matthew Strauss and Tomas Lima Virginia Tech Jeremy L. Rickli, Advisor |
Second Place
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($1,500 split among the teams plus $500 for the department) Adam Gereg, Owen Kelley, David Sitek and Cory Wolosyn Montana State University Durward K. Sobek II, Advisor |
Third Place
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($1,000 split among the teams plus $500 for the department) Philip Gutierrez, Eric Kim, Estelle Sillari-Owen and Nihar Doshi California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo Lizabeth Schlemer, Advisor |
The 2009-2010 case was developed by Keogh Consulting.
This year’s case study, ToolFair Distributors, has been developed to provide a real world situation in regard to designing functional and efficient distribution center facilities.
ToolFair’s engineering team has been challenged to develop plans for the construction and equipping of a new distribution center that will commence shipment to customers no later than June 2011. ToolFair is a nationwide company that distributes a full line of hardware, tools, and maintenance supplies to independent hardware retailers located in 39 states. Each customer store is serviced from the Regional Distribution Center (RDC) located within a 200 mile radius. Recently, the company projected sales through 2016, and it was determined that the existing distribution network would need to be expanded by 2012 to service the ever growing number of customer stores through the addition of a new southwestern RDC located in Phoenix, AZ.
A key to the rapid expansion of the company lies in the company’s focus on Customer Service, streamlined Supply Chain Logistics processes, and integration of its information systems with its suppliers. Collaborative planning with key suppliers has resulted in a significant reduction in inventories and transportation services needed to provide fast replenishment to its customers who compete with the large national Do-It-Yourself retailers.
First Place
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($1,500 split among the team plus $500 for the department) Mattie Bookhout, Prabuddha Lohani, Elizabeth McCallion and Cameron Ramoly University of Arkansas Russell Meller, Advisor |
Second Place
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($1,000 split among the teams plus $500 for the department) Colby Allen, Philip Pecher, Tim Wilson and Yigong Zhang Georgia Institute of Technology Chen Zhou, Advisor |
Third Place
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($500 split among the teams plus $500 for the department) Mona Barjasteh, Kyle Gaunt, Jose Gonzalez and Jeffrey Yuan California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo Unny Menon, Advisor |
Honorable Mentions
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Michael Wharff, Amy Fredrikson, Breton Bureau and Todd Murphy Maine Maritime Academy Navneet Jain, Advisor Ashley Olander, Jarrod Kazda, Anthony Koleck and Anastasia Linuwih Penn State University D.J. Medeiros, Advisor |
