North Eastern Illinois University (NEIU) Team Wins Third Place in APICS Regional Case Study Competition.
On February 6 and 7, 2004, a four- person College of Business and Management Team from Northeastern Illinois University competed in and was identified as a third place winner of the annual regional Case Study Competition conducted by the American Production & Inventory Control Society (APICS) Region XIV (Wisconsin and Michigan).
The competition was held at the Doubletree Inn in Lombard, Illinois and involved a total of ten student teams from universities in three Mid-Western states, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
The competition involved the presentation of a case situation by an employee of the Kellogg Cereal Company. Student team members were permitted to ask questions about the case, and answers were posted in the competition center. Then student teams were required to prepare a four-page paper describing their “solution” to the situation, and a five-minute briefing to some 100 APICS professionals, as well as the other student team members.
The NEIU Team, from left to right: Sophia Monroy, APICS Student Chapter Co-President; Gustavo Morales, an MBA student and the Management Department tutor; Derek Roszkoviak, a COBM management undergraduate student; and Stephanie Plotkin, APICS Student Chapter Co-President, took a variety of course materials and texts to assist their preparation, They worked into the early morning hours to prepare their materials.
“Initially, we were somewhat overwhelmed by the other team members who apparently were from programs that had operations, engineering, or supply chain majors” commented Stephanie Plotkin. “Those teams had competed in the program in previous years and knew what to expect. However, in the end, the additional courses did not seem to make much difference.”
The other universities represented at the competition included Grand Valley State University, Ferris State University, University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, Eastern Michigan University, Western Michigan University, University of Wisconsin – Oskosh, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, and Lakeshore Technical College. Lombard, The Illinois location was selected because it reduces the overall travel distance from Wisconsin and Michigan universities, and because it permits the groups to integrate with Chicago area APICS student chapters.
“I was a bit concerned for my guys because they had not experienced such a briefing and situation previously; but, I heard their presentation and they really stacked up rather well against some of the Michigan and Wisconsin APICS Student Chapter powerhouses,” commented Dr. Pete Stonebraker, Advisor of the NEIU Student Chapter. “We now know what to expect and will be able to pass that information on to our team for next year.”
Winners at the Regional Level (Region XIII - Illinois & Indiana) for the 2003 Donald Fogarty Paper Competition Results are:
