We are always looking for 1-semester projects for the classes in supply chain, and especially in warehousing or inventory. Perhaps your company has a project that would be suitable for the class.
Here is a list of some past projects.
There is one class per year at Georgia Tech (late August through early December). The class consists of about 40–60 graduate students, with a considerable mix of backgrounds and nationalities. Most will have never been inside a warehouse; some will have managed warehouses; all will be technically excellent, with notable strengths in mathematics and computer science.
A project must be fairly-well defined several weeks before the semester begins so that we can get off to a good start and can complete the project within the 15 weeks of the semester.
Because of the limitations of the academic calendar, our projects cannot take the place of consulting &8221; the students will have other classes and commitments, plus spring and fall breaks and exams. But a class project can still be useful, especially in exploring alternatives. Many of our past clients have used these projects to educate themselves before engaging consultants. Some have directly implemented class recommendations themselves; and some have hired the students to implement the results of the project.
One of our limitations is that the class cannot easily travel off-campus. This means that the class is most likely to be useful in work that can be done at Georgia Tech, and especially work that can be done in front of a computer. For example, if you have sales data from your DC, then we can data-mine that history and, based on mathematical models, suggest how the distribution center can be configured to best support the historical patterns of customer orders. The sorts of issues we can address within a term include recommending where product should be stored and in what quantities (slotting); evaluating equipment purchases or alternative layouts; etc.
Finally, please understand that, because this project is done by students (with faculty advice), absolutely nothing is guaranteed. But no company has ever expressed anything but delight with the results.
Finally, we ask that the client return at the end of the term to hear and critique the student presentations.
We apply the following criteria in approximately this order:
Special consideration is given to projects for companies that have relationships with The Supply Chain & Logistics Institute at Georgia Tech or that are public-service organizations.
Contact me at john DOT bartholdi AT gatech.edu if you would like to discuss sponsoring a project.