INDIANAPOLIS — The IU Kelley School Center for Excellence in Manufacturing hosted the first annual Gregg M. Sherrill Case Competition on Saturday, April 6 at IUPUI.
The case gave undergraduate students interested in manufacturing a dose of reality, as they solve a current issue manufacturing managers across the Midwest are facing: How to modernize the facility and where to locate.
“With this case competition, we’re developing the next generation of managers Indiana manufacturing firms will need,” said Mark Frohlich, the Gregg and Sabine Sherrill Director for the center and associate professor of operations management at the Kelley School at IUPUI. “The case challenges students to think about the whole package: the factory, financing, accounting and international competition. We also want students to think about current events, so they must analyze the case considering the current U.S. trade policy. What happens if that policy is enacted? What if it isn’t? These are questions all manufacturers are asking right now.”
Students from three central Indiana schools participated: IUPUI, Butler and Ball State. The student teams received the case in advance, and each team presented their solutions to a panel of judges. The judges were managers in central Indiana manufacturing firms.
First place went to the students from the IU Kelley School of Business on IUPUI’s campus. Butler University came in second place, and Ball State came in third.
Students were scored on their analysis of the case, their knowledge around current trade policy and their professionalism in presenting and answering questions from judges.
The IU Kelley School Center for Excellence in Manufacturing was created with the support of an endowed gift from Gregg Sherrill, MBA’91, and his wife, Sabine, for whom the directorship of the center is named. A Kelley alumnus, Sherrill is chairman of the board and former executive chairman of Tenneco Inc. and past chair of the National Association of Manufacturers board.
Congratulations to all involved!