Drawing diverse attention from industry, this event highlights team achievements over the summer and kicks off the TMI recruiting season. It is an excellent opportunity for companies to establish relationships, expand their University presence and see many new ideas in manufacturing. This is a chance to converse with colleagues, discuss new projects with the TMI office and, above all, establish student-corporate relationships in an informal setting. Many other breaks and opportunities for networking have been purposely placed throughout the event to facilitate student-company relations.
Competition begins early the next morning.
Each team presents its project results twice over the course of the day. However, multiple presentations periods are planned to provide the audience with opportunities to see a variety of projects. Judges from the manufacturing industry evaluate projects on the basis of scope, implementation, impact, overall presentation skills and other criteria to determine the winners. The Copeland team was highly praised by judges for their implementation of a pull system to manage overseas inventories and reduce the effects of highly volatile demand patterns. Team Steelcase won accolades for its design of a strategic capacity planning process that would allow Steelcase to maximize its production capacity while offering highly customizable products to its customers.