Students battle to design warehouse

You're no doubt familiar with the term "battle of the bands." But did you know there's a similar—albeit less catchily named—competition in the world of warehousing?

The annual Material Handling Student Design Competition, sponsored by the College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE), pits student teams against one another in a contest to design a manufacturing or distribution facility that supports the needs of a fictional company.

This year's case example, developed by Keogh Consulting, required students to act as the design engineering team for the fictional Dollar Value Supplies, a third-party logistics (3PL) company that operates as a wholesale-distributor to grocery retailers. The challenge was to design a distribution center for a nationwide grocery retailer by utilizing an existing facility that was ready for final fit-out.

Three academic and three industry judges evaluated the entries based on criteria related to product flow, equipment utilization, space utilization, operational plan, overall integration, and economic justification. Judges also were asked to evaluate the teams' writing quality, analysis, and presentation.

Teams from universities with the word "Technology" in their names were the big winners: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (first place), Georgia Institute of Technology (second place), and Rochester Institute of Technology (third place). Honorable mention went to a team from Texas A&M University.

CICMHE is an independent organization that prepares and provides information, teaching materials, and events in support of material handling education and research.