By Lauren Rizzo, MBA Class of 2015
As January came to a close, the WMBA traveled across Pennsylvania to visit Samsung America’s headquarters. The 4 hour drive to Ridgefield Park, NJ was worth it as the group was greeted in the lobby by enormous wall displays with welcome signs that scrolled through photos of each attendee. They were also greeted by Ms. Susan Kim, a Penn State alumna whose bubbly personality and explanations escorted the group throughout the visit. Continue reading
By Angela Shershin, MBA Class of 2014
On Friday, November 1st, about 15 members of the SCMA traveled 30 miles southeast to visit the Standard Steel manufacturing facilities in Burnham, PA. We were first greeted by Standard Steel’s Senior Leaders and got suited up with hard helmets to prepare for a tour of Standard Steel’s facilities.
The first stop on our tour was the melt shop, where Standard Steel heats up scrap Continue reading
By Angela Shershin, MBA Class of 2014
On April 12th, the SCMA and Supply Chain Faculty visited Amazon’s Fulfillment Center near Allentown, PA. The visit started with a tour of the fulfillment center. The tour Continue reading
By Felicia Li, MBA Class of 2013
Last week, a team of Penn State Smeal MBA candidates consisting of Tim Pace, Darius Adl, Jose Fanjul, Derek DeGroot, Felicia Li and Joey Ly had the opportunity to travel to Arkansas to compete in the 16th Sam M. Walton College of Business International Graduate Logistics Case Competition.
We were one of 12 teams participating with our competition consisting of BYU, Iowa State, Continue reading
Gene Carmichael, SCMA VP of IT & Finance, MBA Class of 2013
On March 15th, the Supply Chain Association organized a visit to the Starbucks Roasting Plant/Distribution Center in York, PA. The group was cordially met by Teresa, who is the quality control manager of the facility, and brought to the conference room where Kevin, the supply chain manager, gave the group a presentation on the history and the functions of Continue reading
By Gene Carmichael, SCMA VP of IT & Finance, MBA Class of 2013
On November 2nd, the Supply Chain Association organized a visit to the new Office Depot combo-distribution (direct and retail) center in Newville, PA. The group was cordially met by Penn state alumni Bob Zelis – Senior Director of the distribution center – and his outbound manager – David. Throughout the warm welcome and the guided tour, the group received an overview of the Office Depot operations and specifically this particular facility’s uniqueness. This new distribution center is catering to the entire Northeast region – Maine to Virginia – and reduces the need for a cross-dock in Continue reading
On Friday, February 3rd, the MBA Supply Chain Association traveled to York, PA to visit ES3’s flagship distribution center. ES3 is a third-party logistics provider focused on the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry and is a leading provider of collaborative warehousing with facilities across the U.S. Continue reading
It is Smeal’s belief that future business leaders cannot be groomed just within classrooms and hence the MBA administration actively encourages student organizations to visit different companies to meet with industry leaders and learn from their experience. As someone who had been to couple of such visits, I thought I would pen down one such experience to encourage more students to participate in such events. Continue reading
Mehul Pathak, MBA Class of 2012
Almost a year back when I came to this college, admin, faculty and classmates all stressed on how strong alum network Penn State has and the value of same. I was from a different country and was not able to grasp this “power of alum” concept. But now I understand what they all meant. If you read the next few paragraphs, no matter which country, which culture you are from, you will agree with me as well!
By Rachel Jones, MBA Class of 2012
On Friday April 15th, the SCMA visited The Hershey Company, in Hershey, PA. For the first half of our trip, we met with several key supply chain employees and learned how the famous Hershey’s candies are made and delivered from start to finish. We listened to individual presentations about Hershey’s planning and forecasting process as well as packaging, imports and exports, customer service, distribution and transportation. We also watched a manufacturing video that showed how a Hershey Kiss is made. Finally, we learned about the global aspect of Hershey’s business. In all, we had a chance to speak with 10 supply chain employees. All of us were able to ask many questions and actively participate in all the presentations. Of course, we also had a chance to “sample” many of Hershey’s products. Continue reading