Material Handling Capstone Design Competition

Congratulations to the winners of the 2022-2023 Material Handling Capstone Design competition organized by the Material Handling Industry (MHI) and the College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE).

Thanks to generous MHI sponsors, including the MHI Solutions Community, Hytrol, Knapp, Sick, Murr, Panther, Grenzenbach, John Ashodian, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winning teams will receive $2000; $1000; and $500, respectively, to be shared among the students on the team.

This year we received 9 submissions from 6 different schools. Each submission was reviewed by a set of industry and academic judges, including Drew Pope (Nautique Boat Company), Tony Wolf (RF-SMART), Michael Shannon (SRSI), Steve Hopper (Inviscid Consulting), Alan Marsh ((RF-SMART), Glen Wegel (Kitchen Cabinet Distributors), Christine Nguyen (Northern Illinois University) and Jennifer Pazour (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). These submissions were evaluated based on their project complexity and outcome success, the creativity in addressing the problem, the potential Impact/Contribution to the Material Handling Industry, the Quality of the Deliverables, and the Effective communication of the problem, approach, design, and results.

The winning undergraduate teams are:

First Place

Virginia Tech & PMG – Long Length Pallet Flipper Project Student Team Members: Jaebeum Lee, Owen Keegan, Joseph Albrigo, Joseph Spohrer Faculty Advisors: Dr. Michael Madigan and Dr. Natalie Cherbaka

Second Place

Georgia Tech & Trondheim Public Library - I Just Can’t Help My Shelf Student Team Members: Anjana Chamarthi, Sofia Eidizadeh, Kennedy Eltz, Taylor Helfrich, and Paritosh Suri Faculty Advisors: Dr. Bodner and Dr. Dima Nazzal

Third Place

Iowa State – Benefits of Velocity Slotting on Material Handling Student Team Members: Pat Miller, Max McFadden, Charles Byrd, Cale Nelson Faculty Advisors: Dr. Dave Sly

Honorable Mention

Georgia Tech & Warner Robins Air Force Base – Robins Air Force Facility Redesign Student Team Members: Kanak Agarwal, Mahika Ala, Christine Chang, Kelly Collins, Srinidhi Nandala, Bhumi Patel, Akhilesh Talkad, and Lara Van Der Beek Faculty Advisors: Dr. Douglas Bodner, Dr. Leon McGinnis, Dr. Dima Nazzal

Announcing the Winners of the 2022 Material Handling Capstone Design Competition. Congratulations to the winners of the 2022 Material Handling Capstone Design Competition organized by MHI and the College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE).

Thanks to generous MHI sponsors, including the MHI Solutions Community, Hytrol, Knapp, Sick, Murr, Panther, Grenzenbach, and John Ashodian, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winning teams will receive $2000; $1000; and $500, respectively, to be shared among the students on the team.

In the first year launching this competition, we received 13 submissions from 9 different schools. Each submission was reviewed by a set of industry and academic judges, including Eddie Murphy (Spaceguard Products), Jason Looman (Scanreco), Michael Shannon (SRSI), Steve Hopper (Inviscid Consulting), Derek Westfall (Portland State University, Boeing), Glen Wegel (Kitchen Cabinet Distributors), Alan Marsh, (RF-SMART), Christine Nguyen (Northern Illinois University) and Jennifer Pazour (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). Thank you to these judges for donating their time and talents to this initiative.

First Place

Georgia Tech’s Team "Tiffany and Co. Diamonds and Distribution: Improving the Order Fulfillment Process" Student Team Members: Shreya Desai, Ozashwee Ghimire, Fares Hasan, Saman Muhammad, Neha Srivatsa, William Reich, Asli Yucebilgin Faculty Advisors: Dr. Gunter Sharp and Dr. Dima Nazzal View their poster

Second Place

Virginia Tech’s Team “Safelite. ADAS Windshield Storage Capacity Optimization“ Student Team Members: Evan Stahl, Phillip Froman, Daniel Dugan, Aniruddha Naik Faculty Advisors: Dr. Chis Kwaramba and Dr. Natalie Cherbaka View their poster

Third Place

Northern Illinois University’s Team “Americold – Dock Optimization Project at Americold featuring ASRS and Conventional Frozen Food Storage” Student Team Members: Garret McCann and Mitchell Jones Faculty Advisors: Dr. Christine Nguyen View their poster

Honorable Mention

Georgia Tech’s Team "SAIA. SAIA-ZING UP: Evaluation of Terminal Expansion", a senior design technical competition finalist. Student Team Members: Joey Abi-Sarkis, Abhishek Mattipalli, Maya Menon, Jay Patel, Santhosh Saravanan, Abhinav Sehgal, Pooja Sharma, Yashovarman Singh Faculty Advisors: Dr. Anton Kleywegt and Dr. Dima Nazzal View their poster

First Place - Montana State University

Advisor: Advisor: Durward Sobek Team Members: Laura Coffey, Joey Tschida, Morten Bakke, and Brita Whisler

Second Place - Oklahoma State University

Advisor: Austin Buchanan Team Members: Maddie Hawkins, Lauren Leto, and Maddie Marko, and Logan Price

Third Place - Polytechnic State University

Advisor: Lizabeth Schlemer Team Members: Maggie Cheung, Jeffrey Martin, Eric Ranger, Joseph Yoo

First Place - Montana State University

Advisor: Durward Sobek Katie Black Eliza Diegel Mackenzie Hull Paul Krech

Second Place - Texas A&M University

Advisor: Andrew Johnson Nishat Unmeshbhai Mehta Salil Vijay Rajwade

Third Place - Maine Maritime Academy

Advisor: Navneet Jain Amanda Holewiak Megan McLean Mikayla Charters Dayna O’Brien

The competition was sponsored by the College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE) and the Order Fulfillment Solutions Council (OFS) of MHI. Seven independent judges from industry and academia evaluated the submissions.

First Place

($2,000 split among the team plus $500 for the department) Montana State University Durwood K. Sobek II, Advisor Team Members: Andreas Arvidsson, Quinn Hanson, Dominik Schmelter, and Drew Shanafelt

Second Place

($1,500 to each team to be split among the team members, plus $500 for the department) Rochester Institute of Technology Anthony DiVasta, Advisor Team Members: Benjamin Bruns, Alec J. Greenspan, Marissa McCarthy and Robert Mejia

Third Place

($1,000 to each team to be split among the team members, plus $500 for the department) University of Missouri Mohamed Awwad, Advisor Team Members: Austin Laramie, Rohith Madhi Reddy, Keith Schonhoff, and Roderick Timmons

The competition was sponsored by the College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE) and the Order Fulfillment Solutions Council of MHI. Fortna provided the case based on an actual project. Seven independent judges from industry and academia evaluated the submissions.

First Place

Place ($2,000 split among the team plus $500 for the department) Montana State University Durward Sobek, Advisor Team Members: Kayley Gaustad, Lin Li, Sarah Linkenhoker, Ross Wolfe

Second Place

Second Place ($1,500 to each team to be split among the team members, plus $500 for the department) Rochester Institute of Technology Anthony DiVasta, Advisor Team Members: Filippo Iannucci, Brandon S. Hickey, Alexa Farner, Derick Kowalczyk

Third Place

Place ($1,000 to each team to be split among the team members, plus $500 for the department) California Polytechnic University Liz Schlemer, Advisor Team Members: Youlen Ghazalian, Anna McCreary, Nicole Perrigo

The competition was sponsored by the College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE) and the Order Fulfillment Solutions Council of MHI. St. Onge Company provided the case based on an actual project. Five independent judges from industry and academia evaluated the submissions.

First Place

($2,000 split among the team plus $500 for the department) University of Florida Elif Akcali, Advisor Team Members: Sieggy Bennicoff Yundt, John Cassel, Sarah Huestis, Warner Olson

Second Place

($1500 to each team to be split among the team members, plus $500 for the department) South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Dean Jensen, Advisor Bianca Boll, Anne Christensen, Abigail Salkowski, Jeffrey Wientjes

Third Place

($1000 to each team to be split among the team members, plus $500 for the department) Montana State University Durward Sobek II Blake Buechler, Charlie Bartram, Garrett Conners, Sage Childs

The College-Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE) and Order Fulfillment Solutions (OFS) Council recognized the winners of the 2013-14 Student Design Competition during Student Days at ProMat 2015. The two day event was held in Chicago, IL on March 25-26, 2015 during ProMat, the material handling industry’s largest trade show. Pictured from Left to Right : Kimberly Ellis (CICMHE), Durward Sobek (Montana State University), JW Jones (OFS), and Jamie Rogers (University of Texas at Arlington). Not pictured : Tony DiVasta (Rochester Institute of Technology).

The 2013-2014 case was developed by Reddwerks, Corp.

This case study focuses the picking processes at ABC, Inc, a major retail chain with over 200 brick-and- mortar stores. Due to recent changes in the order patterns, ABC is forced to reconsider its current structure with 2 distribution centers (East Coast and West Coast). Considering new demands such as online orders, and Type I, II, & III small stores, the teams were challenged to create the best possible solution for ABC’s picking and distribution needs. The information contained in this case study has been developed to provide a real world situation.

Judging
A mixture of academic and industry judges evaluated the entries according to the criteria of improved efficiencies, no location changes to current DCs, and improved return on investment, as well as the overall quality of the report.

First Place

($2,000 split among the team plus $500 for the department) Alex Bones, William Bryan, Ciarra Loli and Annelise Weinmann Montana State University Durward K. Sobek II, Advisor

Second Place

($1,500 split among the teams plus $500 for the department) Nathan Biviano, Erika Bliss, Christopher Fenn and Samantha Reinhart Rochester Institute of Technology Tony DiVasta, Advisor

Third Place

($1,000 split among the teams plus $500 for the department) Aditya Kasukhela, Benjamin Howisen, Justin Holsworth and Ting Xiao University of Texas at Arlington K. Jamie Rogers, Advisor

The 2012-2013 case was developed by TranSystems.

This case study focuses on a facility retrofit project at CW Sports, a major sporting goods distributor. The sporting goods industry has been growing significantly for the last decade, thanks to a variety reasons including the ability to prosper even during poor economic conditions. The Engineering Team at CW Sports is challenged with retrofitting the current distribution center to meet the demands of growth and the new acquisition of an emerging athletic footwear brand. The information contained in this case study has been developed to provide a real world situation in regard to designing a facility retrofit to improve throughput capacity, increase product storage, increase forward pick locations, and introduce distribution of an emerging footwear brand.

Judging
A mixture of academic and industry judges evaluated the entries according to the criteria of product flow, equipment selection, space utilization, operational plan, implementation plan, economic justification, overall integration, conclusions, and overall quality of report.

First Place

($2,000 split among the team plus $500 for the department) Margaret Bates, Jessica Jeffrey, Alexandra Woodward, and Justine Nichols Rochester Institute of Technology Andres Carrano, Advisor

Second Place

($1500 to each team to be split among the team members, plus $500 for each department) Joe Johnson, Molly Martin, Nate Powell, and Colter Schilling Montana State Durward K. Sobek II, Advisor

Third Place

($1000 to each team to be split among the team members, plus $500 for each department) Abinaya Ulagappa, Shreyas Panambur, Cesar Solis, and John Curlin Texas A&M Andrew Johnson, Advisor

The 2011-2012 case was developed by West Monroe Partners.

MegaSteelTool's 600,000 square foot plant in Buffalo, NY, U.S.A., manufactures a variety of steel tools and distributes them to its clients across the world. The company is mainly recognized for the quality of its products. MegaSteelTool is proud to be certified for the ISO 9001-2008 quality standard.

In the last three years, MegaSteelTool has been penetrating the Asian and South-American markets. This recent success generated a total of 30% annual sales increase over the last three years. It has resulted in the current facility being running over capacity and the company having to recurrently rely on subcontractors in the last two years to meet its commitments toward its clients. The usage of subcontractors has been a costly operation, both in terms of quality and production costs.

After an extensive analysis, the company has determined that it would like to construct a new manufacturing plant to be located in Phoenix, (AZ, U.S.A.). This new plant will take a load of the actual plant. The operations at the plant of Buffalo will remain. The mission of the Buffalo plant will focus on the production of high volume - standardized products. The new plant will have to handle the production of high mix – low volume items. The exact location is not fixed yet and may change. The company desires to build a "state-of-the-art" new plant enabling it to sustain and improve its competitive advantage in the global market.

Judging
A mixture of academic and industry judges evaluated the entries according to the criteria of product flow, equipment selection, space utilization, operational plan, implementation plan, economic justification, overall integration, conclusions, and overall quality of report.

First Place

($2,000 split among the team plus $500 for the department) Austin Chacosky, Bridget Eggers, Matthew Myers, and Leila Rozenman Rochester Institute of Technology Andres Carrano, Advisor

Second Place (Tie)

($1250 to each team to be split among the team members, plus $500 for each department) Mohamed Adan, Tigist Desta, Kate Fisher, and Jesse Walters Ohio State University Jerald Brevick, Advisor Gabriel Bertini, Teresa Creech, Alyssa DeYoung, and Megan Hinterberger Penn State University DJ Medeiros, Advisor

The 2010-2011 case was developed by St. Onge Company.

This year’s case study, SCS Stores, has been developed to provide a real world situation in regard to designing a functional and efficient distribution center facility that supports both retail store replenishment and internet order fulfillment in a high growth environment.

SCS Stores’ engineering team has been challenged to develop plans for the construction and equipping of a new distribution center. SCS Stores operates 665 superstores all across the United States. The big-box outlets offer a variety o TVs, DVD players, and audio systems, as well as CDs and DVDs, personal computer and peripherals, mobile computing devices, telephones, movies and video games. SCS currently has two distribution centers, which are both currently running over capacity and there is insufficient opportunity to expand further in the existing buildings.

First Place

($2,000 split among the team plus $500 for the department) Dan Mashack, Rachel Belyavsky, Matthew Strauss and Tomas Lima Virginia Tech Jeremy L. Rickli, Advisor

Second Place

($1,500 split among the teams plus $500 for the department) Adam Gereg, Owen Kelley, David Sitek and Cory Wolosyn Montana State University Durward K. Sobek II, Advisor

Third Place

($1,000 split among the teams plus $500 for the department) Philip Gutierrez, Eric Kim, Estelle Sillari-Owen and Nihar Doshi California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo Lizabeth Schlemer, Advisor

The 2009-2010 case was developed by Keogh Consulting.

This year’s case study, ToolFair Distributors, has been developed to provide a real world situation in regard to designing functional and efficient distribution center facilities.

ToolFair’s engineering team has been challenged to develop plans for the construction and equipping of a new distribution center that will commence shipment to customers no later than June 2011. ToolFair is a nationwide company that distributes a full line of hardware, tools, and maintenance supplies to independent hardware retailers located in 39 states. Each customer store is serviced from the Regional Distribution Center (RDC) located within a 200 mile radius. Recently, the company projected sales through 2016, and it was determined that the existing distribution network would need to be expanded by 2012 to service the ever growing number of customer stores through the addition of a new southwestern RDC located in Phoenix, AZ.

A key to the rapid expansion of the company lies in the company’s focus on Customer Service, streamlined Supply Chain Logistics processes, and integration of its information systems with its suppliers. Collaborative planning with key suppliers has resulted in a significant reduction in inventories and transportation services needed to provide fast replenishment to its customers who compete with the large national Do-It-Yourself retailers.

First Place

($1,500 split among the team plus $500 for the department) Mattie Bookhout, Prabuddha Lohani, Elizabeth McCallion and Cameron Ramoly University of Arkansas Russell Meller, Advisor

Second Place

($1,000 split among the teams plus $500 for the department) Colby Allen, Philip Pecher, Tim Wilson and Yigong Zhang Georgia Institute of Technology Chen Zhou, Advisor

Third Place

($500 split among the teams plus $500 for the department) Mona Barjasteh, Kyle Gaunt, Jose Gonzalez and Jeffrey Yuan California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo Unny Menon, Advisor

Honorable Mentions

Michael Wharff, Amy Fredrikson, Breton Bureau and Todd Murphy Maine Maritime Academy Navneet Jain, Advisor Ashley Olander, Jarrod Kazda, Anthony Koleck and Anastasia Linuwih Penn State University D.J. Medeiros, Advisor