Spotlight! 2024 Project Showcase Competition Winners and Recap

And the winner is…

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- The Tauber Institute for Global Operations held its annual Spotlight! Project Showcase and Scholarship Competition on September 13, 2024 at the Sheraton Ann Arbor.

For over 30 years, Spotlight! has celebrated Tauber students’ accomplishments by giving them a stage to present their transformative operations and supply chain solutions. Tauber Institute students from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and the University of Michigan College of Engineering present the results of their 12-week Tauber projects at top global companies. The competition was judged by a distinguished panel of judges from diverse industries.

In 2024, the Tauber Institute partnered with industry leaders from Amazon, Amazon Robotics, American Industrial Partners – Attindas, American Industrial Partners—ADDMAN, Boeing Company, BrandSafway, Conagra Foods, DTE Energy, Emerson Corporation, GoPuff, KLA Corporation, Nestle Purina, Stanley Black & Decker, Target, and Washington Gas.

Spotlight! 2024 was launched by welcoming the Tauber Institute's new Faculty Co-Directors, Saif Benjaafar from the U-M College of Engineering and Joline Uichanco from the Ross School of Business, while thanking the previous Co-Directors Larry Seiford (CoE) and Hyun-Soo Ahn (RSB) for their years of service.

At this year’s event, the panel of judges from the industry’s top global companies selected first-place, second-place, and a tie for third-place winners. These judges are senior executive leaders in operations and supply chain from 3M Company, Adient, Eaton, Elevance Health, Enact Systems, Intel, Lear Corporation, L'Oréal , Mayo Clinic, Merchants Fleet, Martinrea, Microsoft, Navitas Systems, Whirlpool Corporation, and StubHub.

Joel Tauber, Tauber Institute benefactor, announced the winners of the competition. Students on winning teams each received $5,000 scholarships for first place, $4,000 for second, and $3,000 for third.

First Place: Stanley Black & Decker

Optimizing WIP: Advanced Manufacturing Excellence

Congratulations to the Tauber team of Abhinav Ganesh Kumar (MSE - Industrial and Operations Engineering), Katherine Qiu (MSE - Industrial and Operations Engineering), and Navaneeth Rajan (MSE - Industrial and Operations Engineering) who worked on the Stanley Black & Decker project. The Tauber team worked with Stanley Engineered Fasteners to analyze and improve operations at its North American plants. The goal was to optimize Work-in-Progress inventory and enhance packaging and labeling at the Chesterfield facility. Integrating lean practices with advanced manufacturing techniques, the team worked to streamline processes, minimize manual handling, and introduce new technology. This boosted the efficiency of the company's plastics and metals production to better serve the automotive industry, with the expected benefits of substantial cost savings and enhanced manufacturing capacity for Stanley Black & Decker.

2024 Spotlight! first-place winners pose with their check
Second Place: Nestle Purina

User-Driven Application Design to Optimize Bulk Ingredient Inventory in the Dry Pet Food

Congratulations to the Tauber student team of Alex Maxwell (Master of Business Administration) and Tori Caracciolo (EGL - BSE / MSE Industrial and Operations Engineering) who partnered with Purina Petcare dry food factories to create real-time data of inventory for their dry material bins. A gap in transparency can be costly, ranging from lack of material availability to long delivery wait times. The Tauber team tackled developing a user-friendly digital solution that integrates with Purina’s larger inventory management toolset. The team enhanced visibility and unlocked trend analysis capabilities of raw material inventories.

2024 Spotlight! second-place winners pose with their check
TIE Third Place: American Industrial Partners -- ADDMAN

Congratulations to the Tauber team of Danny Colon (EGL - BSE /MSE Industrial and Operations Engineering) and Annelise Lemaire (EGL - BSE Chem / MSE Industrial and Operations Engineering). The Tauber team partnered with American Industrial Partners (AIP) and ADDMAN, a leader in additive manufacturing, to integrate AI into its operations, benefiting sectors such as defense, aerospace, and medical technology. The project involved three phases: Identification, focusing on potential AI applications; Application, training an AI model; and Integration, implementing and optimizing AI tools in workflows. This initiative will significantly enhance ADDMAN's performance and efficiency.

2024 Spotlight! third-place winners from American Industrial Partners -- ADDMAN pose with their check
TIE Third Place: Conagra Brands

Journey to One Percent Yield Loss

Congratulations to the Tauber team of Thomas Adelman (EGL -BSE / MSE-Industrial and Operations Engineering), Breanna Allen (BTS - BBA and Master of Supply Chain Management), and Ben Collins (EGL - BSE-DS / MSE-Industrial & Operations Engineering). The project utilized connected line data to create a real-time visualization tool for on-floor associates, aiding in waste reduction efforts. Additionally, the student team worked to identify optimal practices and line instrumentation to inform future investments and shape the Connected Shop Floor of the future, while quantifying sustainability impacts in a calculator tool, based on productivity improvements.

2024 Spotlight! third-place winners from Conagra Brands pose with their check

Other honors from the event included the annual Tauber Alumni Scholarship Award, presented by 2011 Tauber Institute Alum Andrew Burgess. Congratulations to this year’s recipients: Thomas Adelman (EGL), Alexandra Maxwell (MBA), and Breanna Allen (BTS). Each student earned a $3,000 scholarship for their exceptional work this summer and contributions to the Tauber Institute.

The 2024 event concluded with remarks from Managing Director Anne Partington, who congratulated the students and encouraged them to cultivate a growth mindset. She also expressed gratitude to all who supported them throughout their Tauber journey, emphasizing the importance of perseverance and playing the long game. Spotlight! 2024, like its predecessors, proved to be a transformative, educational, and, most of all, fun experience for hosts and guests alike. The Tauber Institute for Global Operations thanks all who contributed to its success and looks forward to another great showcase competition in 2025.

The Tauber Institute for Global Operations is a joint venture between the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and Michigan Engineering, working together with industry partners to facilitate cross-disciplinary education in global operations management. The Tauber Institute is an inaugural recipient of the UPS George D. Smith Prize for effective and innovative preparation of students to be good practitioners of operations research, management science, or analytics. For more information visit tauber.umich.edu.