Adrian Solomon discusses how Olympia Elctronics provides a Challenge to UG students

The Olympia Electronics Challenge Performance Measurement is a real-life scenario where you need to solve one of the daily concerns of Olympia Electronics in terms of analyzing the supply chain performance for a specific product. 

We apply this challenge in the Logistics unit of the BA in Business Studies Level3 students. We arranged students in several groups and each group serves as a tentative consultancy company that will have to solve the challenge assigned to them by Olympia Electronics. Each group will solve the same challenge but for a different product manufactured by Olympia Electronics. The post describes the process we follow to set this up:

Part 1: Identify Product and Supply Chain management issues

• Step 1: Fixed & unchangeable groups are formed randomly (you can be creative – choose names for your groups, branding, etc)

• Step 2: The products for the challenge are suggested by Olympia Electronics and are assigned randomly to the groups

• Step 3: Groups are requested to solve the challenge of understanding the supply chain performance measurement performed by Olympia Electronics for your product and of proposing improvements strategies for that specific product that your group was assigned.

• Step 4: Each group is requested to overview the product and the entire supply chain management as well as the performance measurement. In order to achieve that, it is mandatory to perform one interview with an Olympia Electronics representative (phone, Skype, face-to-face, etc) which should not exceed 20 minutes. Groups present a consent form (that must be signed by the interviewee).

• Step 5: A report is developed with the group consultancy company brand to make it look as a consultancy report.

• Step 6: Besides the academic feedback, students receive industry feedback.

Part 2: Advise Olympia Electronics to adjust to the future challenges that global logistics and supply chain management faces and motivate Olympia Electronics to take advantage of the latest trends in this field.

• Step 1: Each individual student focuses on the product that he/she previously investigated during the previous group assignment

• Step 2: Each student is assigned randomly with one of the following latest trends/challenges faced by global logistics and supply chain management, such as Resource efficiency and optimization,Factories of the future, intelligent manufacturing & logistics, Internet of things & Crowdsourcing for product design to satisfy diversified demands,Achieving supply chain resilience against disruptions, Achieving efficiency in intermodal hubs, Reverse logistics and return management, etc. 

• Step 3: Each student develops a presentation (5-10 mins) in which he/she briefs the company about the global challenge in general, suggested what the company should be aware if they will implement that global challenge/trend and finally share your objective opinion on whether Olympia Electronics should implement/adopt that global challenge/trend or not.

• Step 4: A panel from Olympia Electronics are present during the presentation sessions and share their feedback with the students. 

Through this experience, students get real-life practical insights into the problems and challenges faced by industries without having them limited to the academic context of their assignments. In this way, the students also become more motivated to solve real-life problems and their interest in the assignment is boosted. Furthermore, by undertaking this assignment, the students increase their employability profile by being able to add to their CVs and skill-set a consultancy-like task in a real-life setting. Finally, the feedback gained from the industry will enable the student to see the practical view of their proposed solutions and better acknowledge what is required by the market. In a similar context, through such an experience - the students can also develop connections with their future employers.

Adrian Solomon
Project Manager for Resource Efficiency, Environmental Sustainability & Digital Projects at SEERC
Module Leader (Logistics & Supply Chain Management)