Contact:
Sarah J. Smith
Communications Specialist
MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics
+1 617.253.4592 / sajsmith@mit.edu
October 3, 2013 (Cambridge, MA) – The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Global Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence Network (MIT SCALE) today announced that a team of students from its four supply chain management graduate programs took first place at the finals of the 5th annual Global Challenge of The Fresh Connection, a supply chain simulation competition designed to engage participants in making strategic and tactical decisions with the goal of improving the financial performance of a fictional company.
The winning team, named the "MIT Scalers," consisted of the following members:
- Gustavo Escudero, Graduate Certificate in Logistics and Supply Chain Management student from the Center for Latin-American Logistics Innovation (Bogotá, Colombia)
- Nadya Petrova, Supply Chain Management master’s student from MIT (Cambridge, MA, USA)
- Richard Swapp, Logistics and Supply Chain Management master’s student from the Zaragoza Logistics Center (Zaragoza, Spain)
- Sagar Neel De, Supply Chain Management master’s student from the Malaysia Institute for Supply Chain Innovation (Shah Alam, Malaysia)
After four stages of selection, eight teams took part in the finals, which were held in Istanbul, Turkey on September 24, 2013. After 12 rounds, the MIT Scalers achieved a weighted return on investment (ROI) of 47.8%, almost 4% higher than first runner-up team from Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte in Germany, and 5% higher than the second runner-up team from Fuji Xerox in Australia.
More than 1,300 participants from 25 countries formed over 300 teams in this year’s competition, which was organized by Involvation Interactive, creators of The Fresh Connection simulation program. This year’s Global Challenge focused on supply chain risk management and featured new scenario planning tools to address various types of risk events such as natural disasters, strikes, supplier disruptions, theft, quality issues, and high market volatility.
"We are very proud of what Gustavo, Nadya, Richard, and Sagar achieved as a team in Istanbul. They were great ambassadors for the MIT Global SCALE Network. But while winning first place is a great achievement, it was more important that the team worked harmoniously and, above all, had fun while learning a great deal in the process," said Dr. Roberto Perez-Franco, research associate at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and The Fresh Connection facilitator for the MIT SCALE team. "This is something we teach our students at MIT, and it’s the reason we included The Fresh Connection as part of the MIT SCALE experience: to help students develop teamwork and leadership skills, and maintain a positive attitude in the face of daunting supply chain challenges."
In a separate competition held earlier this year, another MIT SCALE student team, led by MIT Supply Chain Management master’s students Andrew Bignell and Derik Smith, took first place in the finals of The Fresh Connection Student Competition, which were hosted in Paris, France on May 25, 2013. The team competed against the top seven teams from France and Germany. After three rounds, the MIT SCALE team achieved an ROI of 11.89%, followed by ESSEC Business School with 9.18%, and Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg with 8.97%. The Fresh Connection Student Competition was organized by the Production Management Institute (Germany) and FAPICS (France).
###
About the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (MIT CTL)
Launched in 1973, MIT CTL is one of the world’s leading centers for supply chain education and research. Part of the Engineering Systems Division of the MIT School of Engineering, MIT CTL coordinates more than 100 supply chain research efforts across the MIT campus and around the globe. The center also educates students and corporate leaders in the essential principles of supply chain management and helps organizations to increase productivity and improve their environmental performance. For more information, please visit: http://ctl.mit.edu.
About the Global SCALE Network
The MIT Global SCALE Network is an international alliance of leading research and education centers dedicated to the development of supply chain and logistics excellence through innovation. Launched in 2008, the Global SCALE Network now spans Europe, North America, Latin America, and Southeast Asia with ten graduate and executive education programs, over 50 supply chain and logistics faculty and research partners, over 100 corporate and organization partners, and more than 650 alumni working worldwide. For more information, please visit: http://ctl.mit.edu/scale.
MIT SCALE students (from left to right) Sagar Neel De, Richard Swapp, Gustavo Escudero, and Nadya Petrova win the 2013 Fresh Connection Global Challenge