IISE Logistics and Supply Chain (LSC) Division Student Case Competition

Sponsored by the Logistics and Distribution Institute (LoDI) at the University of Louisville

The Logistics and Supply Chain (LSC) Division of IISE invites nominations for its annual Student Case Competition. Any team with three to five student members can participate in the competition to showcase their problem-solving capability and analytical skills on a related LSC case. The winning teams in each category of the competition will be recognized at the LSC Town Hall Meeting to be held at the upcoming IISE Annual Conference & Expo, New Orleans, LA, May 20-23, 2023. 

The sponsor for the 2023 competition is the Logistics and Distribution Institute (LoDI) at the University of Louisville. In each category, first place winners will receive $250, second place winners will receive $150, and third place winners will receive $100.

Eligibility Criteria

  • Teams must consist of three to five members for undergraduate student teams; and two or three members for graduate student teams. Teams of up to five members with a mix of undergraduate and no more than three graduate students are allowed, and they will participate in the graduate category.
  • All team members must be members of IISE and belong to the LSC division.
  • Team members should be from the same institution (but can be enrolled in different disciplines).
  • There is no limit on the number of teams competing from the same institution.
  • The teams must demonstrate innovative use of logistics and supply chain concepts in the analysis of the case.

The teams can be nominated by a faculty advisor or self-nominated. The following documents will be required from each participating team:

  • One-page contact information including names, email addresses, university name and department information for all of the members of the team highlighting the contact person for the team. Also indicate if the team is formed by undergraduate or graduate students.
  • A 4-page “memo” describing the analysis, procedure and results for the case.

Case Information

Teams will work on the case “Growing Pains: A Case Study for Large-Scale Vehicle Routing,” available at https://doi.org/10.1287/ited.2016.0167cs from the INFORMS Transactions on Education Journal. The goal of the case is to prepare an internal estimate of annual freight transportation miles if the current delivery day schedule is maintained and all stores are restocked from a single DC in Wilmington.

Data Files:
deliveries.xlsx
distances.xlsx

Requirements for Undergraduate and Graduate Teams

For undergraduate teams: 
Suggest at least two good coastal shipping system designs for the overall outbound automotive distribution network for the given scenario, including appropriate vessel sizes, number of voyages required in a year, and the amount of freight to be shipped using the coastal mode. Overall assessment of the total cost of the proposed system designs needs to be made for comparison with the cost of complete direct trucking option.

For graduate teams:
Develop an ‘optimal’ coastal shipping system design and shipment planning for the overall outbound automotive distribution network for the given scenario, including appropriate vessel sizes, number of voyages required in a year, and the amount of freight to be shipped using the coastal mode. Overall assessment of the total cost needs to be made for comparison with the cost of complete direct trucking option

Recognition

  • Undergraduate and Graduate Winners:
    • First Place: $250
    • Second Place: $150
    • Third Place: $100
  • Recognition at the Annual Conference:
    • at the LSC Town Hall Meeting
    • in Honors and Awards program
    • before the final day keynote address
  • Certificate provided by IISE (either mailed or given at the town hall meeting) for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize winners.
  • Recognition in ISE magazine
  • Recognition on LSC webpage and in the newsletter

Deadlines

The application is due Feb 28, 2023, by 11:59 PM Pacific Time. All application documents must be emailed as a single PDF file to iiselscawards@gmail.comto the attention of the LSC Division Awards Co-Directors by the contact person of the team for full consideration. There is no application fee.

For any questions, please contact the LSC Division Award Co-Directors Mohamed Awwad and Raj Mishra or Amy Straub at IISE.

2022 Winners

Graduate Level

1st Place:
Matthew Walters, Rajon Paul Pantha and Dhiraj Pokhrel
University of Arkansas

2021 Winners

Graduate Level

1st Place:
Dalhousie University
Rootinkumar Satani, Sagarkumar Patel and Revanth Vinay Kodali

Past Winners

Logistics and Supply Chain Division Page

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