March 2021:  Student teams from Northeastern University, Babson College, Penn State, Bryant University, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, and MIT’s Supply Chain Management master’s program competed in The Supply Chain Management Interactive Tournament (SCMIT), a 4-day, 2-round challenge to address five real-world supply chain problems put forward by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Benjamin Moore, New Balance, and Girotti Supply Chain Consulting. 

Participating teams received details & data on a Friday, and worked through the weekend to meet a Tuesday deadline for submission of their analyses and recommendations. Companies sponsoring each challenge reviewed deliverables from multiple teams before selecting the best solution recommendation to advance to the final round. 

In a live event held Friday, March 26, the five finalist teams’ video summaries were shown, and team members responded to questions from a panel of judges drawn from the Tournament’s sponsor companies and MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics researchers. After brief deliberation, the judges selected the top three solutions.

Top prize went to the team “Order of the Phoenix” — MIT SCM students Arturo Torres Arpi, Fernando Gonzalez, Ramon Mantellini, and Cosmo Valentino — for their response to a production optimization challenge presented by Benjamin Moore.

The “Management Mavericks” — MIT SCM students Song Gao, Landon Hollingsworth, and Scott Sladecek, with Kelly Doan (MIT SCM ’20) — took 2nd place for their recommended processes to improve patient service and safety/quality for a global biopharma company, challenge presented by BCG.

Northeastern University students Dominic Belz, Jacob Brass, Abdulatif Kanafani, and Dara Zayanderoudi, the “Best Consulting Group,” were awarded the 3rd place win for their response to a “shippable shoe box” challenge presented by New Balance.

All final-round judges praised the quality of work, the skill level of the student participants, and the breadth & depth of the solutions teams were able to develop in such a short time. Jose (Pepe) Rodriguez, Managing Director and Partner at BCG, added that he was excited to see the abundance of talent and interest in the use of analytics in the supply chain space.

SCMIT is organized by the MIT Supply Chain Management master’s program and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) / New England Roundtable (NERT). The idea for a hackathon-style tournament was originally proposed by a group of students in the MIT SCM class of 2020, who worked with members of CSCMP/NERT on structure and logistics and secured several sponsors, including BCG and Benjamin Moore, before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the academic year. Fast-forward a year, and several of those original organizers were able to participate in the 2021 SCMIT event as alumni advisors to MIT teams, while others helped secure challenges and/or financial sponsorship for the Tournament from the companies they now work for. Thanks to the generosity of financial sponsors BCG, Benjamin Moore, New Balance, PerkinElmer, Accenture, and Waters, the 2021 Tournament awarded over $20,000 in fellowship prizes to top teams.

The Tournament is designed to provide students with applied learning opportunities and valuable industry exposure. Working closely with top companies on relevant, timely supply chain and operations problems, and collaborating in teams to solve complex challenges requiring a broad range of skillsets, students gain invaluable experience while strengthening practical skills. On the networking front, the Tournament provides students with an opportunity to connect in substantive and productive ways with professionals at top companies, as well as with seasoned industry practitioners who volunteer their time to work with teams in a consulting capacity throughout the challenge.

Asked to comment on their Tournament experience, first-place team Order of the Phoenix, who took on a challenge from Benjamin Moore to optimize production of over 2000 paint formulations and 6000+ SKUS across five US manufacturing plants, responded in verse:

The Phoenix 

The order of the phoenix flew together

Worked hard to take it a step further

Always pulled in the same direction 

And built a Gurobi optimization

Thanks for the great challenge Benjamin Moore 

Experiential learning was achieved for sure

We enjoyed a lot, learned a lot and hit the spot

Tournament organizers hope to make SCMIT an annual event, and to expand the network of schools invited to send teams in 2022. Poetry will remain an optional skill for participating teams.

More info:
Supply Chain Management Interactive Tournament (SCMIT)
Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals / New England Round Table
MIT Supply Chain Management master’s program

Higher education research company QS Quacquarelli Symonds has recognized MIT SCM as the #1 Supply Chain Management master’s program in the world in its 2021 university program rankings.

The company has ranked top graduate and undergraduate programs in business and other subject areas since 2004, and added Supply Chain Management master’s program category for the first time in its 2021 rankings. QS ranks 46 top SCM programs around the globe on factors including “employability, alumni outcomes, value for money, thought leadership and diversity.” 

Demand for Supply Chain Talent is High

The addition of Supply Chain Management as a distinct program category in the QS rankings speaks to growing recognition that a strong, resilient supply chain is critical to every business. Companies in all industries need supply chain leaders with the practical skills and technical knowledge to make data-driven decisions and develop creative solutions to global logistics and operations problems.

MIT SCM: Engineering-Focused MBA Alternative

MIT’s Supply Chain Management master’s program combines practical, engineering-focused coursework with executive leadership and communication training. Though often grouped with MBA and other graduate business degrees in rankings and program comparisons, MIT’s SCM program leads to a Master of Applied Science or a Master of Engineering in Supply Chain Management from the MIT School of Engineering.

For the right students, MIT’s SCM program offers tremendous value and ROI. Students in the Residential program cohort spend just 10 months out of the workforce, and one year’s tuition, and enjoy career and salary outcomes comparable to those of top-tier 2-year MBA programs: 100% of the MIT SCM class of 2020 residential cohort secured employment within 90 days of graduation, at a median salary of $129,900. The SCM Blended program option gives students who’ve completed the fully-online MITx Micromaster’s in SCM an opportunity to earn a master’s in SCM in just five months of full-time study on campus.

Global Study Options 

The MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics created the global Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence (SCALE) Network to advance supply chain expertise and innovation around the globe, with centers in Spain, Malaysia, Luxembourg, and China, as well as at MIT in Cambridge MA. MIT SCALE online and on-campus supply chain management master’s degrees, certificate programs, short courses, and executive education coursesprovide professionals of all ages and experience levels with powerful problem-solving frameworks and first-hand knowledge of cultural demands of collaborating across disciplines and countries. Students in all SCALE programs learn what it takes for an organization to be resilient in a volatile global marketplace, and work closely with partner companies in diverse industries to devise solutions to real-world challenges.

A team of graduate students from across MIT, including MIT Supply Chain Management master’s program alum Elizabeth Raman Grubbs, was awarded first place in the 2020 Patagonia Case Competition in June.

The annual competition, hosted by outdoor clothing company Patagonia in partnership with the Center for Responsible Business at Berkeley Haas School of Business, invites graduate students from around the world to envision innovative solutions to problems of waste in the apparel industry.

Winning Team “Na(No Waste) Puff” included Raman Grubbs (SCM ’20); Sloan MBA students Della Bradt, Kelsey LaFreniere, and Trevor Thompson; and PhD candidates Giulia Agostinelli and Andrew Lew. Team lead Bradt (MBA ’20) notes that the competition was “an amazing way to connect with students across the Institute that I might not have otherwise met during my time at MIT. The diversity of academic backgrounds and perspectives was a huge asset and led us to develop a creative and implementable solution to a complex, industry-wide issue.”

Responding to the 2020 case prompt, “Waste Not, Want Not: Eliminating Patagonia’s Pre and Post-Consumer Textile Waste,” six finalist teams presented their solutions virtually on June 29, 2020. Winners were announced July 10. The 1st-place winning team was awarded $15,000 and an opportunity to collaborate with Patagonia on a plan for implementing their winning solution. 

While final presentations in prior years have been pitched live in California to members of Patagonia’s corporate strategy leadership team, this year’s finalists were able to present their solutions to a worldwide audience of Patagonia staff and invited guests. The move to a virtual event was necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but Raman Grubbs sees it in net positive terms. “Having the entire organization’s input was a benefit of having the virtual presentations. We even received some questions from different teams, asking for additional detail, after presenting,” she said.

In all, over 130 teams submitted applications, including three teams from MIT. Presidio Graduate School and Duke University teams were awarded 2nd and 3rd place respectively, with teams from Yale, NYU, and Esade Business School in Barcelona rounding out the list of 2020 finalists. This was the competition’s fifth year, and the second consecutive year in which an MIT team has won the top prize.