This spring, four College of Business Supply Chain Management students competed in the 5th Annual International Undergraduate Supply Chain Competition from March 29 to April 1.
The 2017 Competition took place at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. The competition welcomed 30 universities including Colorado State. The four students representing the university included Alexis Applegate, Doug Gaillard, Anastasia Pjevach, and Jonathan Schulein.
Colorado State Minneapolis Case Competition group
The team was asked to analyze and solve a distribution/retailer case involving perishable items for the case sponsor, Land O’ Lakes, in a 24-hour time frame. After a fierce competition, the students placed second, but their performance was strong enough to get the team recognized at the awards banquet.
Competition participant, Doug Gaillard, explained how he got involved with the competition. “I heard about the competition through Bill Shuster’s capstone class,” he said. Seeing as Gaillard had already competed in the Denver Transportation Case Competition, he decided to take on the challenge.
The students had the opportunity to attend networking dinners, company tours, and meet countless influential individuals within the supply chain field. When describing how it felt after their presentation and analysis Gaillard stated, “We all felt amazing about what we accomplished in such a short period of time. Working on a real business problem and competing with my fellow Rams with a mentor like Bill during the competition was so rewarding.”
Although they did not make it into the finals, the group still received honorable mention for their outstanding performance. After finishing the competition, Gaillard said he is eager to compete again next year and to apply what he learned to the next case competition.
