About 90 percent of the full time MBA students complete a summer internship. SCM internships are project based and emphasize skill building and practical application. Students work on real industry problems at national and international companies, many of which are members of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative. For many students, their internships lead to full time jobs. Read what some of our recent interns have to say.
*Andria Temple, MBA ’06 *
BA in Chemistry
2 years in chemical analysis
My assignment was the creation of a comprehensive storm housing plan for a three state area. The project tasks included benchmarking travel contract best practices, identifying specific contractual components related to storm restoration efforts, and establishing criteria for identifying acceptable hotels. The development of a storm plan for the spring Storm Drills involved utilizing a cross-functional team to map current-state process flows and identifying process improvements. In addition to this project, I was also
involved with bid-selection and contract negotiations for several vendor contracts within the corporate travel, fleet services and purchasing departments. This included writing requests for proposal, reviewing bid proposals and evaluating potential vendors, and negotiating contractual terms.
Venky Kuppuswamy, MBA ’06
BS in computer engineering
6 years in IT industry
My major project was the market analysis and strategy building for U.S. bulk trucking and global ocean freight. I spotted trends in the local/global logistics and transportation markets to discover opportunities waiting to be tapped and identified appropriate leading indicators to benchmark performance on a regular basis. I used analytical tools like Porter’s Five Forces Model, SWOT Analysis, Anklesaria’s Costing Tool and IBM’s 7-step Sourcing Methodology. After combining my market analysis with the internal spend analysis, we were able to come up with a successful strategy with buy-in from stakeholders.
Husnu Erenli, MBA ’06
MS in textile apparel management & sourcing
1 year in sourcing
My major project involved a reduction in warehouse space occupied within our assembly areas. I assessed the feasibility of altering the replenishment cycle and estimating the consequences after my initial research concluded the preliminary estimation of docking space needed. I interviewed company personnel, time-studied and documented the job descriptions and time bar-charted activities. We used ABC type inventory planning for placement, and Six Sigma principles to put in a system to measure the impact we created to come up with a recommendation.
Brett Williams, MBA ’06
BS industrial and management systems engineering
4 years in manufacturing
One of the projects I worked on was to analyze and create a matrix we coined “business unit profiles.” The purpose of the project was to assess different business units and their corresponding supply chain traits. The matrix included information such as a business unit overview, demographics, spend by channel, and top suppliers by total spend. The profiles were quick, one page reference sheets of each business unit’s supply chain activities that were to be used as informational snapshots during
the upcoming merger.
Michael Dobslaw, MBA ’06
BS in logistics and transportation
3 years in dedicated and intermodal fleet management
I undertook two projects during my summer internship. The first was a review of the internal trucking operation. This required a detailed accounting of the operations performed by the group that I completed via interviews, data analysis, and ride-alongs. The second project was the development of an enterprise-wide balanced scorecard, a tool that is used to improve relationships and performance among internal and external stakeholders alike.
*Sara Jane Sondecker, MBA ’05 *
BS Business Administration
3 years in public relations and marketing operations
I worked in the rigid paper and plastics sourcing department. My job was to act as a consultant by reviewing the documentation and talking to the people in the departments who used the information. Then, I was responsible for making a recommendation on how to improve the process. My solution was relatively simple: a database so the company could share information with other divisions without risking breakdowns in communication.
Winston Cockburn, MBA ’05
BS Chemical Engineering
2 years in operations management
The scope of my assignment was to gain an understanding of the plastic business at the company. My first task was to collect, organize, and analyze data via pivot tables, cost models, and statistical tools in order to determine if a competitive situations exists and to make a recommendation. I did a global ‘price to price’ analysis by mining through the data to understand the relationship and pricing trends and a logistical analysis to determine opportunities. I was also given the task to serve as a resource to buyers. I assisted the buyers with finding what the price of a part ‘should’ cost.
I developed an understanding of why deviations/gaps existed and informed the buyer of my analysis.
Shovan Chandra, MBA ’05
BS Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering
4 years in relationship management
My major project was a market analysis of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) in North America. OCTG includes different kinds of tubing and casing used in drilling oil and gas wells. Our research included delving into the annual reports and relevant company information of the suppliers, and interviewing SMEs (subject matter experts), category managers and suppliers. We used several analytical tools in our project, like Porter’s Five Forces model, Kraljic Matrix for portfolio analysis and Spend Analysis. After due diligent analysis, we came up with a recommendation.
Scott Hudson, MBA ’05
BS Chemical Engineering
3 years in development program of Fortune
500 Company
My assignment was with the global supply management group for the chemical commodity team. I analyzed the chemical commodity’s supplier list, reconciled pricing differences across regional divisions, and worked with suppliers to document diversity spend. I led an investigation tasked with lowering the divisional supplier count, and successfully reduced the supplier list and developed a supplier cross-reference report. By performing data mining techniques, I was able to uncover inconsistencies in supplier pricing points for identical parts. I was the point of contact for suppliers working with the Minority Supplier Development (MSD) process to educate and assist companies with entering MSD spend into a tracking program.
Cenk Ayakaban, MBA ’05
BS Industrial Engineering
9 years in product and materials management
I was assigned to a very competent cross-functional team for the development of a global sourcing strategy for a specific division of the company. I was given the lead role in developing the baseline, defining first the cost structure of the current business model and then the should-cost model, defining and evaluating alternative distribution models, and developing product distribution for target markets.
