How to Save Millions and Gain Revenue Improvements

Ann Arbor, MI –  The 2023 Tauber Team Projects resulted in $820.3 million in savings and revenue improvements according to sponsoring company calculations, an average of $45.5 million per project over three years. Each summer, teams of Tauber graduate students work for sponsoring companies to uncover savings and champion major improvements in areas such as data analytics, sustainability, supply chain, and strategy – then return to the University of Michigan and present their results to operations leaders at the SPOTLIGHT! Team Project Showcase and Scholarship Competition.

Check out the challenges addressed by four of the eighteen project teams who are presenting at SPOTLIGHT! 2023 – Boeing, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Starbucks, and Stanley Black & Decker:

The Boeing Corporation

Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) is planning the restart of production of the 777-9 Commercial Airplane after production halted in April 2022. The Tauber team of Claudia Zimmerman – EGL (BSE-ME/MSE-Systems)
Daniel Cotton – Master of Business Administration, and Nick Tran – Master of Engineering in Industrial & Operations Engineering observed the restart process in the composite wing production areas and collect data to develop best practice recommendations for reintegrating the 777-9 from the composite wing production areas into the Fuselage Assembly and Final Assembly Units. The project will have significant implications for new staff training and integration, manufacturing flow optimization, and cross-functional stakeholder management.

Becton, Dickinson, and Company

BD is a dynamic global medical technology leader that touches billions of patients around the world. Post-pandemic demand for BD’s products has been more volatile than ever, making traditional forecasting techniques inadequate to predict demand and supply. The project's primary objective is to analyze the current process, identify pain points, and propose process/tool improvements to improve demand forecasting. The Tauber team on this project was Farzad Siraj – EGL (BSE/MSE Computer Science) and Maria Fernanda Guerrero Pineiro – Master of Business Administration.

Starbucks Corporation

The 2023 Tauber team of Yuzhou (Judy) Liu – EGL (BSE/Master of Engineering in Industrial & Operations Engineering) and Clark Yidi Wang – EGL (BSE/Master of Engineering in Industrial & Operations Engineering) was tasked with developing an asset tracking strategy for all US Starbucks licensee stores, identifying critical assets, establishing a record source to view and maintain data on existing data management systems, and creating data ownership and sustainable processes for accuracy and integrity. With accurate and updated data, Starbucks can communicate with the licensee stores effectively and efficiently, which reduces operating costs and supports its sustainability goals.

 

Stanley Black & Decker

Stanley Engineered Fasteners is aiming to have a deep reflection into the way in which some of its North American plants operate. The Tauber team of Jessica Dillon – EGL (BSE/MSE Mechanical Engineering) and Neal Sinha – EGL (BSE/MSE Mechanical Engineering) led internal audits of its Stanley Engineered Fastening plant in Elyria, OH, and used a combination of lean tools and advanced manufacturing to develop a framework of how to optimize key areas like tooling management and material delivery. By developing new sustainable strategies for operational improvements, Stanley Black and Decker can cut costs and improve production capabilities.