University at Buffalo students take third in supply chain competition

By Kevin Manne

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Four University at Buffalo students in management and engineering took third place in the in the graduate division of the APICS Northeast Student Case Competition, a supply chain challenge held this spring in Albany.

The team was made up of UB School of Management students Ashwani Gupta, MBA ’17, of Delhi, India; Prashanth Kumar, MBA ’17 of Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu, India; and Ellen Ragus, MBA ’18, of Pittsford; as well as UB Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering student Mandar Jewilkar, MS ’18, of Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India.

Over the course of two days, the teams worked to solve a supply chain problem using a computer simulation game. The team members took up roles in purchasing, supply chain management, operations and sales for a fictitious juice manufacturing company that was running in the red, and developed a plan to generate profit.

“The UB MBA program instilled in us the importance of building trust, a positive environment among the team and how to engage in constructive feedback and criticism,” says Kumar. “Throughout the competition, we engaged in open communication and ensured that all team members participated and provided suggestions. We then analyzed each other’s perspectives and chose the options that would be most beneficial for the team.”

In total, 110 students in 28 teams from 14 different universities participated in the undergraduate and graduate divisions of the competition. Teams from the University of Connecticut and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute took first and second place in the graduate division, respectively.

Professionals and representatives from industry served as competition judges, who assessed the rationale for their decisions and their learning through the simulation experience.