A team of students from Conestoga’s Business programs achieved a bronze medal finish at the 2015 Lloyd Clive Memorial Student Case Competition held January 24 - 25 in Burlington.
Gabriel Silva Castillo, Alex Mitchell and Sarah Vink from the Supply Chain and Operations Management diploma program, Kimberly Kunkel from the Purchasing diploma program, and Sebastian Toplician from the International Business Management degree program joined forces for the competition, under the supervision of faculty advisor Leopold Koff.
The annual event is hosted by APICS, an international association for Supply Chain & Operations professionals. The organization provides research, education and certification programs designed to elevate supply chain excellence, innovation and resilience.
On the first day of the competition, student teams faced the Fresh Connection APICS Challenge, a web-based business simulation that engages participants in making strategic and tactical choices for the value chain to save a virtual company from financial ruin. Teams were ranked based on the return on investment they achieved for the enterprise as a result of their decisions.
On day two, teams conducted 10-minute presentations highlighting their actions and choices, as well as the results they achieved. Both components were equally weighted in the overall team rankings.
Students who participated in the event found the experience to be a rewarding one.
“The Fresh Connection is a great tool for educating students,” said Adam Schram, a member of the other Conestoga team that participated in the competition. “It is the closest to a real-world experience students can receive without entering the ‘real world.’ The simulation makes you realize the consequences for each decision that you make, how one department works off another, and gives you experience doing S&OP."
Although Schram and his teammates Dan Liu, Caleb Connor, Mei Ling and Qin Lu finished outside the medals, faculty advisor Leopold Koff congratulated both groups for their efforts and team work, describing them as among the best teams to compete to date.
“Our students demonstrated a validation of the real-world relevance, skills and strategic management understanding, as delivered by the programs and faculty of our School of Business,” said Koff.
For the second time in as many years, the gold medal for the APICS Student Case Competition was presented to a team from HEC Montreal. They will participate in the international competition to be held in Las Vegas from October 5 - 7.
Conestoga teams are now preparing to build on their success as they gear up for the Canadian National Student Case Study Competition to be held on February 28 at the Rotman School of Business in Toronto.
The Conestoga team displays their bronze medals from the 2015 Lloyd Clive Memorial Student Case Competition. Pictured left to right are: Gabriel Silva Castillo, Alex Mitchell, Kimberly Kunkel, Sebastien Toplician, Sarah Vink, faculty advisor Leopold Koff and District Manager, APICS, Humphrey Vernaus.