Four Ashland University supply chain management students participated in a case competition on Feb. 21-22 in Pittsburgh, Pa.  The event was part of the APICS Association for Operations Management Mid-Atlantic district meeting.    

At the event, Ashland competed against 12 other schools including Cleveland State, Akron, Penn State and Duquesne. 

This year represented AU’s first appearance at the case competition as the chapter was recently started back up on campus last year.  Ashland’s team consisted of seniors Alicia Casselberry, Jakeb Gonci, Cassandra Smear and Eric Vittardi.

The competition started on the night of Friday, Feb. 21 with the teams receiving information about the business case.  Their task involved developing a written paper that detailed their analysis and solution to the case by Saturday morning.  They were also required to give a presentation based on their conclusions.  After learning the facts of the case, the team scrutinized the scenario and began brainstorming potential solutions.  

Once formulating their ideas, they composed the paper, developed a PowerPoint slideshow and planned their presentation for Saturday. 

The judges evaluated each group on various factors such as how they analyzed the facts of the case, their reasoning behind the conclusions and their presentation skills. 

Vittardi explained how the group worked together to accomplish these tasks under the strict time constraints. 

“I learned a lot about working as a team,” Vittardi said. “I have been in many teams before, but never one that was stressed and put under as much pressure as this group. We truly had to utilize the skills of each and every team member and work cohesively to even finish.”

Besides teamwork, the students enhanced their knowledge about the business world at the competition.      

 “My favorite part of the experience was getting to work hands on with an actual case study and getting to collaborate ideas with my other team members,” Casselberry said. “The case allowed me to apply the material I learned in the classroom to a real-world problem that the actual company went through.”

Robert Stoll, advisor of the AU chapter of APICS, also explained that many individuals in the industry attended the event. This enabled the students to interact with these business professionals and gain a greater awareness of career possibilities.

“They were able to network and make contacts for potential future jobs,” Stoll said.

After gaining experience in their first year at the event, the chapter plans on attending the case competition again in the future.