ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Second Annual Industry Advisory Board Community Service Day recently brought alumni, students and Tauber staff together to give back to the Ann Arbor community as only they can. Projects for 2013 were selected based on feedback from last year’s event and focused on using operations strategies to benefit local organizations in relevant ways. The three projects involved subjects that are central to daily life in Michigan: pets, recycling and small/medium-sized business.

Humane Society of Huron Valley (HSHV)

Recently relocated, the HSHV team was in need of a dashboard to manage their growing equipment management and maintenance needs. HSHV requested that students come up with an efficient, automated way for staff to log, track and manage calls related to warranty information, cost measurement and equipment repair and maintenance. Tauber volunteers reviewed the current process for equipment management, recommended software tools and included best-practices to manage and track equipment calls.

The desired features, overall layout and any process improvements had to be made clear enough to allow a software development team to take-over the project and build the automated system. A bonus for HSHV volunteers was time scheduled to tour the facilities and pet the puppies and kittens.

Recycle Ann Arbor’s ReUse Center

Recycle Ann Arbor and the ReUse Center is a returning participant for the IAB/Student Community Service Day. The challenge this time was to redesign the facility’s layout, in advance of an entire remodel set for early Fall. Center manager, Jack Middlebrook, requested help to create a new look, better product flow and an easier shopping experience for customers.

The project focused on creating a more efficient donation drop off and a well-defined store entrance and exit. It also addressed the Center’s shoplifting concerns and a need to minimize existing clutter and hazards as well. The team came up with a new floor layout and a process flow diagram for Middlebrook to present to the ReUse Center board.

National Center for Manufacturing Services-Outreach

The Tauber volunteers were tasked with creating an efficient and effective means of contacting small and medium-sized manufacturers in Michigan, what the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) calls the “Missing Middle.”  This group constitutes more than two-thirds of the manufacturing jobs in the nation and develops almost three-fourths of the innovation. The challenge is that this “Missing Middle” remains without many of the basic digital manufacturing tools leveraged by larger manufacturers every day.

The goal of the Tauber outreach team was to determine methods to address perception and value to help SMEs understand the existence and value of these tools so critical to their competitive future. The team focused on building up the grid cell brand so that it is the first thing associated with M&S expansion efforts. They brainstormed the types of materials best suited to the small and medium-size business audience and how that material should be disseminated.

Win-Win Arrangement

Students found that the Community Service Day not only offered them a closer look at some key organizations around Ann Arbor, it also provided an opportunity to solve problems using the Lean Operations concept. “Our team studied the operations process and warehouse layout of ReUse recycle center. We listened to the warehouse manager's concerns and opinions, and then designed a new warehouse layout map that helps to eliminate unnecessary steps and provide better visibility for management. We also recommended an implementation plan to execute these changes and guidelines for them to stay Lean. It's a great experience for Tauber students to see the actual operation of an organization, apply Lean into real practice and address problems from a consulting approach, “said Joe Tang, MSCM ’13.

Community Service Day also infuses fresh ideas and enthusiasm into the operations of area organizations.

“We spent some time telling the students about our current process flow for maintenance calls, and the team came up with the name of specific software that they thought would help us,” said Kelly Schwartz, Humane Society of Livingston County’s Director of Facilities.

Within hours, the team was teleconferencing with the software developer via Skype, gaining information on the program’s benefits and how the humane society could use it to streamline the maintenance call process. “The team was very resourceful,” said Schwartz.

Rick Jarman, President and CEO of NCMS, is a member of the Tauber Industry Advisory Board (IAB) and a past Tauber Institute Team Project Sponsor. “I have seen the immense value these talented students give to solving real-world corporate problems.  We immediately jumped at the chance to engage them once more during a community service day,” he said.

By working with members of the respective organizations, IAB mentors and Tauber staff, the students were able to work quickly to come up with solutions that had real promise. “All of the students were very interactive, shared great ideas with the team and really wanted to learn more about our issues and come up with a specific plan of action.  The mentors of the Tauber Institute were essential to asking clarifying questions and steering the team towards other thoughts/options without guiding them to their conclusions.  We were very impressed with all of the students’ knowledge and enthusiasm,” Jarman added.

“The Student Advisory Board has been working hard to enrich the Tauber experience and this is a wonderful capstone event. The service day is an opportunity to network with leaders across industries in our IAB and serve the community by completing a single day operations project,” said Theresa Ceccarelli of the Tauber Institute.

For more information about Community Service Day, contact Al Woodliff, Tauber Industry Co-Director, at 734-763-4160 or [email protected].

About Tauber Institute for Global Operations
The Tauber Institute for Global Operations is a joint venture between the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business and the College of Engineering, and many industry partners to facilitate cross-disciplinary education in global operations management. In addition to broad array of core and elective courses, the innovative LeadershipAdvantage^SM Program provides students with the tools to ascend to major operations leadership roles. Well-designed and managed team projects form the cornerstone of the Tauber Institute experience and allow students to apply their knowledge to real world settings. 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. http://www.tauber.umich.edu

Contact:
Theresa Ceccarelli 734-647-0308 [email protected]