Microsoft Corporation logo

Optimizing Capital Management to Maximize Growth of Windows Ecosystem

To aid MSC in effectively supporting its growing first-party product portfolio, the Tauber team was tasked with developing a capital management solution targeted at optimizing investments, extracting maximum value from purchased assets, and maximizing the recovery from assets at end of life.

The Tauber team interfaced with internal stakeholders conducted external research, and visited multiple suppliers in China to define both the current and best practices in capital asset management., then structured the capital optimization solution into three modules: investment planning, asset tracking, and asset disposal.

The group tackled each module by undergoing an iterative design-build-test-feedback-refine process with key stakeholders. Seamless integration of the modules enables MSC to make timely investment decisions at the optimal manufacturing capacity level, provides greater visibility on asset reuse, and improves the return on retired assets.

The business impact amounts to ~$50M in cost avoidance, savings, and realized revenue.

View team project summary

Student Team:

Lauren Bilbo – EGL (BSE/MSE Electrical Engineering)

Mohammad Jama – EGL (BSE Chemical Engineering/MSE Industrial and Operations Engineering)

Bradford Lynch – Master of Business Administration

 

Project Sponsors:

Courtney Everson – Director, Sourcing Operations

Eric Liu – Director, Strategic Sourcing

Jana Shull – Sr. Director, Capital Sourcing

JP Wilson – Finance Manager, Windows and Devices Group Finance

 

Faculty Sponsors:

Ruiwei Jiang – College of Engineering

John Branch – Ross School of Business

Project Photos