Welcome

The 2023 sponsors include Amazon.com, Inc., Amazon Partners, Becton, Dickinson and Company, The Boeing Company, Ford Motor Company, MillerKnoll, Inc., Mayo Clinic, Modine Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., Starbucks Corpora$on, Target (Washington Gas). As part of a comprehensive training onsite industry partner tours as well as leadership and prepara$on for their Tauber projects.

GREETINGS, and welcome to the 2023 Spotlight! Team Project Showcase and Scholarship Competition. Today marks an important milestone in the work of the Tauber Institute, and it is our great honor to welcome you to our 30th Spotlight!.

This year marks an incredible 30 years for the Tauber Institute for Global Operations continuing impactful work in developing new leaders for operations and supply chain careers. In this past academic year, 2022-2023, 42 students participated in 18 team projects featuring 15 sponsoring companies from various industries, including aerospace, internet commerce, high tech, health care, automotive, energy, and retail. The 2023 sponsors include Amazon.com, Inc., Amazon Robotics, American Industrial Partners, Becton, Dickinson and Company, The Boeing Company, BrandSafway, ConAgra Brands, Inc. Ford Motor Company, MillerKnoll, Inc., Mayo Clinic, Modine Manufacturing, Nestlé Purina, Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., Starbucks Corporation, Target Corporation, and WGL Holdings, Inc (Washington Gas). As part of a comprehensive training program, students participated in onsite industry partner tours as well as leadership and teamwork training modules in preparation for their Tauber projects.

through disrup$ons to supply chains, including material challenges, difficult demand forecas$ng, changing consumer undergoing digital transforma$on and restructuring. Tauber specific challenges our industry partner faced and resulted in will drive measurable value well beyond the summer project. showcase, the results are not only transforma$ve to our students and future success of our industry partners as well. We are incredibly who have invested in our students, supported these projects what an academic and industry collabora$on can produce. teams’ regional and global impact with execu$ve summaries and results from each sponsored project. The depth and reflect the demands faced by opera$ons in an ever-changing summaries will provide insight into the University of Michigan’s partnerships with leading companies who know our students can be most challenging problems.

The Tauber Ins,tute for Global Opera,ons completed another year of ac,on-based team projects. In this past academic year 2021-2022, 49 students par,cipated in 21 team projects featuring 16 sponsoring companies from a wide range of industries, including aerospace, Internet commerce, high tech, health care, automo,ve, energy and retail. The 2022 sponsors include Amazon, American Industrial Partners, Boeing, BrandSafway, Brunswick, Dell, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, GoPuff, MicrosoQ, MillerKnoll, Na,onal Center for Manufacturing Sciences, Pfizer, Stanley Black & Decker, Stoneridge, and Target. As part of a comprehensive training program students par,cipated in facility tours, and leadership and teamwork training modules leading up to their projects.

Industry partners continue to work through disruptions to supply chains, including material scarcity, increasing logistical challenges, difficult demand forecasting, changing consumer attitudes, cost pressures, all while undergoing digital transformation and restructuring. Tauber team projects helped identify the specific challenges our industry partner faced and resulted in long and short-term solutions that will drive measurable value well beyond the summer project. As you will see during the showcase, the results are not only transformative to our students and their future careers but to the future success of our industry partners as well. We are incredibly grateful to our industry partners who have invested in our students, supported these projects, and continue to raise the bar on what an academic and industry collaboration can produce.

This book documents student teams’ regional and global impact with execu,ve summaries describing the challenge, method, and results from each sponsored project. The depth and breadth of our students’ projects reflect the demands faced by opera,ons in an ever-changing world. We hope these execu,ve summaries will provide insight into the University of Michigan’s strong global reputa,on and partnerships with leading companies, who know that our students can be called upon to solve some of their most challenging problems.

This guide documents student teams’ regional and global impact with executive summaries describing the challenge, method, and results from each sponsored project. The depth and breadth of our students’ projects reflect the demands faced by operations in an ever-changing world. We hope these executive summaries will provide insight into the University of Michigan’s solid global reputation and partnerships with leading companies who know our students can be called upon to solve some of their most challenging problems.

Best Regards,

BEST REGARDS,

Larry Seiford

Hyun-soo Ahn Ford Motor Company Business

Goff Smith Engineering CoDirector and Professor of Industrial & Opera$ons

Co-Director and Jack D. SparksWhirlpool Corpora,on Research Professor of Business

Larry Seiford

Goff Smith Engineering CoDirector and Professor of Industrial & Opera,ons Engineering

Anne Par3ngton Managing Director

Ray Muscat Industry Director Tauber Ins?tute for Global Opera?ons

Santa J. Ono President

3190 Ruthven Building

1109 Geddes Avenue

Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1079 TEL: 734 764-6270

August 9, 2023

DEAR U-M STUDENTS, COLLEAGUES, AND FRIENDS:

Welcome to the 30th Anniversary of the Spotlight! Team Projects Showcase and Scholarship Competition with the Tauber Institute for Global Operations at the University of Michigan. As my first greeting to this wonderful community, let me start by saying I feel so honored to have this opportunity of embracing our new students into such an extraordinary collaboration between our university partners at the College of Engineering and the Stephen M. Ross School of Business for what will no doubt be another fantastic year. Thank you for allowing me to welcome you.

It’s true that, as a public university, it is our moral duty to devote our strengths in research and education in service of our society. But as members of the University of Michigan community, we do so with pride, with poise, and with passion for our collective futures. Tauber Institute is a spectacular example of why our university is a world leader in innovation and impact. By bringing together our talented students from different disciplines, the Tauber Institute unleashes their ingenuity and intellectual power to tackle large-scale operational challenges, further demonstrating that the best solutions to big problems are never produced in isolation.

And though I am rounding out my first year as president, it is evident to me that this cross-disciplinary initiative produces longstanding results that will no doubt benefit both our society as well as our own mission to further our research and education. What a wonderful demonstration of our University’s mission in action. Our students strengthen their skills and expertise while delivering results that improve our world.

For this 30th Anniversary, I encourage you to take a moment to consider the outstanding work that our alumni worked hard to achieve since Tauber Institute’s humble beginnings. Alumni who are now professionals in their own fields and who are continuing to help move society even further because their U-M drive has not faltered and does not waver.

I offer my sincere gratitude to Joel D. Tauber, without whose vision of this partnership and the great successes of the Tauber Institute would not be possible. I’m also grateful to the company partners who have supported and guided our students over the last several months. We appreciate your willingness to engage and collaborate with the next generation of engineers, entrepreneurs, and scientists.

The pages that follow demonstrate the great synergies that take place when great minds come together. I am sure you will enjoy reading them as much as I have.

Sincerely,

Santa J. Ono President