By Dan Nichol, MBA Class of 2021
Four of us had the honor of representing Penn State Smeal in Final Round of the 7th Annual Deloitte Supply Chain Challenge at Ohio State University. Our team consisted of Sanath Adiga, Andrew Marshall, Dan Nichol and Declan Smith, all First-Year Smeal MBAs were given the opportunity to represent the Smeal at Columbus Ohio. After a 7-hour car ride from State College to Columbus filled with good snacks and even better conversation, we arrived at our Airbnb the night before the two day event. Shortly after arrival we set off to explore Columbus and met some interesting residents who told us about the rich history behind the neighborhood we were staying in.
The next day we arrived early at OSU’s Business Building to kick off the event. There was a total of eleven big-name teams each representing their business colleges. After a brief introduction from Deloitte, we were sent away with a business case problem in hand and a PowerPoint deadline 12 hours away. The case’s focus was on cost optimization of a major manufacturer that required critical thinking and creativity to develop recommendations that yielded cost savings while maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction. After building several financial models and constructing a crisp PowerPoint, we submitted at 10:30pm, practiced and slept.
On our final day in Columbus we presented our recommendations to the “board” of the company which we were consulting for. The “board” consisted of a high-level executive from a Fortune 500 Supply Chain Company as well as three Deloitte Supply Chain Network Operations (SCNO) Partners. Shortly after our presentation we joined the fellow teams who had already presented to discuss the different ways we approached the case and presentation and compare our recommendations.
Although we didn’t place in the top three, overall it was great experience and we learned a lot in a short period of time. We learned a lot from the feedback that was provided from the “board” as well as our faculty advisor, who sat in on our presentation, on how to present to people at the highest level of a company. Although our presentation was balanced between qualitative and quantitative elements, we should have made sure to attach a dollar amount to every aspect of each of our recommendations. This was the differentiating factor between those who placed in the competition and those who did not. At the end of the day, we should always provide at least an educated estimation of the CAPEX associated with our recommendations. This is a valuable lesson that the members of our team won’t forget to implement when it comes to participating in future case competitions.