Supply Chain and Business Intelligence Center

SCBIC Student Club

 

2024 SAP ERPsim Competition for WCU Students

The Supply Chain & Business Intelligence Center hosted the SAP ERPsim simulation competition for WCU students on 3/19/2024. Professionals from Lockheed Martin, SAP, JPMorgan Chase, APICS, IFF, Penn State, and Aetna attended the event. Students Derek Au, and Connor Zou won the 1st place prize of $1,000 prize. Taylor Blankley, Tasila Mkwayaya, Suong Nguyen, and Davi Saleet won 2nd place with $750. Matthew Dobrowolski,  Jessica Mitchell,  and Austin Carbone won the 3rd place prize of $500. Abel Flores,  Spencer Cambor, and Alejandro Arroyobedolla won the 4th place prize of $250. This event is only open to students who are taking or have taken MIS303. Thanks to the instructor of MIS303, Dr. Phuoc Pham, Dr. Linda Zhu, and Dr. Qi Zou for coaching students and organizing this great event! The next time to offer this course and event is Spring 2025.  

 

 2023 SAP ERPsim North America Competition Participants

Students Michael Cincotta, Derek Au, Connor Zou, Joe Harkins, and Marcus Remillard represented WCU to compete at the North America SAP ERPsim simulation competition on 3/31/2023 and won No.5 in US / No.6 in US & Canada. This WCU team beat all university teams along the east coast. Dr. Phuoc Pham, Dr. Qi Zou, and Dr. Linda Zhu coached the team. Congratulations to the students and faculty coaches and thanks for helping WCU to build up the SAP program reputation! 

 

2023 SAP ERPsim Competition for WCU Students

The Supply Chain & Business Intelligence Center hosted the SAP ERPsim simulation competition for WCU students on 3/21/2023. Professionals from Wawa, Siemens, Clemens, Lockheed Martin, SAP, JPMorgan Chase, APICS, Endo, and IKEA attended the event. Students Michael Cincotta, Derek Au, and Connor Zou won 1st place. Joe Harkins, Marcus Remillard, and Karina Chen won 2nd place. Bob Stockbower, Tucker Fetterolf, and Ethan Fox won 3rd place. This event is only open to students who are taking or have taken MIS303. The next time to offer this course is Spring 2024.  

2022 SAP ERPsim North America Competition Participants

ERPsim game replicates and elevates real-world business setting. The goal is to manage a cereal manufacturing company profitably and efficiently by using SAP ERP software. The competition took place on Mar. 25th, which has over 100 students from 25 universities participating. The team of West Chester University, formed by Joseph Harkins, Seth McLaughlin, and Andrew Zou, entered finalist and placed 9th in the America Region.

2025 Case Competition

2025 Spring-Incoming Case Competitions

• Open to all Majors and Years
• Cash Prize for the Winning Teams
• Internship or Job Opportunities
• Enhance Your Resume and Gain Real-World Experience

2024 Case Competition Winners

2024 Clark Case Competition

The Supply Chain & Business Intelligence Center hosted the 2nd Clark Case competition on 4/18. It included an International Track with 2 teams from WCU’s partner school, Beijing Union University. Marcus Remilliard won 1st place with a $1,000 award. Michael Vanbelle won 2nd place with a $750 award. Madelyn Rowan, Nyah Hood, and Genevieve May won 3rd place with a $500 award. Beijing Union University students Wei Yuanyuan, Zhang Tian, Wang Ning, Song Ruobing, and Wang Xuan won the International Track. Thanks to Dr. Qi Zou leading the case competition and Dr. Phuoc Pham, Dr. Linda Zhu, and BUU Professor Dr. Xiaojuan Sheng gave great support!

2024 Enterprise Case Competition

The Supply Chain & Business Intelligence Center hosted the 2nd Enterprise Case competition on 3/21. Students Dillon Gerth, Josh Lancellotti, John Starks won the 1st place prize with a $1,000 award. Cristina Dougherty, Thomas Bodenschatz, Carter McCormack, Brian Keilman won the 2nd place prize with a $750 award. Michael Van Belle won the 3rd place prize with a $500 award. Marcus Remillard won the 4th place prize with a $250 award. Thanks for Dr. Qi Zou leading the Enterprise Case Competition and Professor Dave Rice, Professor Frank Nocella and Professor Grace Liu gave great supports! 

2024 Penske Case Competition

Lead by Dr. Qi Zou and Dr. Phuoc Pham, the WCU Supply Chain and Business Intelligence Center hosted the 3rd Penske Case Competition. Genevieve May, Nyah Hood, Luke Danner, Madelyn Rowan, and Ryan Kelly won 1st place with $1000 prize money from Penske. Marcus Remillard, Rob Schultz, Austin Carbone, and Cole Smith won the 2nd place prize with a $750 award. Jared Witte, Christopher LeCouteur, Albert Snoh, and Nikolas Tustanowsky won the 3rd place prize with a $500 award. Madelyn Rowan and Marcus Remillard also won the Best Presenter Awards.  

 

2023 Case Competition Winners

2023 Enterprise Case Competition

The Supply Chain & Business Intelligence Center hosted the 1st Enterprise Case competition on 3/23/2023. Students Jordan Lauro, Tyler McDonald, and David Nilan won the 1st place prize with a $1,000 award. Connor McDonough, Tucker Fetterolf, and Cristian Jacobs won the 2nd place prize with a $750 award. Timothy Domanowski, John Ellison, Ryan Merkle, and Jonathan Xhoxhi won the 3rd place prize with a $500 award. 

2023 Clark Case Competition

Clark sponsored the WCU 1st supply chain case competition in 2020. On 4/19/2023 Clark Case Competition hosted by SC&BI center, Clark challenged students with a real world question, asking students to recommend products to sell online for their plus members. 3 winning groups were selected from 6 finalist groups. 

2023 Penske Case Competition

 WCU Supply Chain and Business Intelligence Center hosted the 2nd  Penske Case Competition on Feb. 23, 2023. Penske asked students to identify a market within the Philadelphia/South Jersey Region and locate a business to target as a Penske Rental Agent. Penske generously offered $1,000, $750, and $500 to the 1st , 2nd , and 3rd place winning groups. Student Heather Canigiani, Steve Rozyckie, Matt Dall won first place, Marcus Remillard, Dan Etling, Anthony Sanfelice, and Brian Garcia won 2nd Place, and Maddie Johnson, Joey Harkins, and Kaylin Moll won 3rd place. All student groups demonstrated excellent data-driven decision making and presentation skills. Penske proposed to hold another case competition at WCU in Spring 2024.
 

2022 Case Competition Winners

2022 Penske Case Competition

 WCU Supply Chain and Business Intelligence Center hosted the 1st  Penske Case Competition in 2022. Penske asked students to identify a market within the Philadelphia/South Jersey Region and locate a business to target as a Penske Rental Agent. Penske generously offered $1,000, $750, and $500 to the 1st , 2nd , and 3rd place winning groups. Student Joseph Harkins won first place, Emily Gowman and Riley Nolan won 2nd Place, and Tucker Fetterolf won 3rd place. All student groups demonstrated excellent data-driven decision making and presentation skills. Penske proposed to hold another case competition at WCU in Spring 2023.

2021 Case Competition Winners

2021 IKEA Case Competition

IKEA's case focuses on developing an omnichannel shopping experience to meet and exceed customer expectations across all chosen channels. As IKEA transitioned its stores to support both in-person and e-commerce sales, it encountered rising final-mile delivery costs. The case challenged students to evaluate the pros and cons of various pricing strategies, considering their impact on market share, conversion rates, affordability perception, and cost structure. Kole Sample, Desmond Brock, and Dominic Cipriano secured 1st place, earning a $1,000 award. Cole Bono, James Forsythe, and Owen Rocks claimed 2nd place with a $750 award. Mark Dumont, Clay Corcimiglia, and Tyler Yeagy took 3rd place, receiving a $500 award. The winning teams presented their solutions to the top executive team at IKEA's US headquarters in Conshohocken.

 

2020 Case Competition Winners

2020 UHS, UPS, and WCU Case Competition

The WCU Supply Chain and Business Intelligence Center hosted its first Case Competition virtually in 2020 due to the pandemic. Three companies provided real-world challenges for the students. UHS (Universal Health Services) tasked students with solving a purchasing issue related to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and N95 respirator masks. UPS challenged students with a logistics and distribution problem for healthcare products, focusing on optimizing profit while balancing risk. The WCU case centered on quick response and crisis management.

 In this multi-case competition, two exceptional groups and one solo participant outshined the competition, securing the top three winning spots. The group 3’s a Crowd, comprised of Austin Hake, Ryan Lin, and Andres Penaloza, earned 1st place and won the $1,000 cash prize. The group Ram Management, featuring Sofiane Bensmail, Lauren Cooperman, and Mya Ruffin, claimed 2nd place and received a $250 prize. Solo participant Shelby Applegate achieved 3rd place, taking home a $500 prize.

The case competition garnered significant attention from the business college and industry alike. A large number of students participated enthusiastically, while esteemed industry leaders served as judges, offering valuable insights to our students. The judging panel included J.B. Anderson from JPMorgan Chase, Yana Walker from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Michael Bracciante from APICS Brandywine Valley, Yu Ru from TEVA, Jennifer Taylor from UHS, Jennifer Ahern from UHS, and Jack Kupsky from Clark Associates. Their expertise and guidance were instrumental in enriching the competition experience.

2024 SAP High School Competition

The Supply Chain and Business Intelligence Center, along with the Undergraduate Admission Office, hosted the 2nd WCU- SAP high school simulation competition on October 4th, 2024. Twenty-five students from Merion Mercy Academy and Notre Dame Academy competed for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place based on their virtual company’s market value. Students learned to use SAP software for ordering, sales, and marketing strategies to increase their company’s value. WCU introduced many business ideas to high school students through hands-on experiences.

2023 SAP High School Competition

The Supply Chain and Business Intelligence Center hosted a SAP high school simulation competition on 4/28. High school students and volunteers from seven high schools in PA and DE competed and coaches the simulation game. Students from Merion Mercy Academy won the 1st and 2nd place, and a mixed team from Notre Dame Academy and Unionville High School won the 3rd place.

2023 DECA Mock High School Competition

The WCU Supply Chain and Business Intelligence Center and Downingtown STEM Academic hosted a DECA Mock Competition on Saturday, 11/18. Students from 9 local high schools practiced Role Play with WCU Judges and attended the seminars hosted by the Fortune 500 and local companies, including J.P. Morgan Chase, EY, Siemens, Uber, and Clark. Thank our professors, alumni, and students for being the Judge, Derek Au, Brandon Barker, Josh Bradley, Perry Cozzone, Ronald Ehman, Hannah Everett, Zhongping Huang, Joseph Harkins, Marcus Remillard, Dave Rice, Wei Du, John Scott, Nathan Yao, Dazhi Zheng, and Qi Zou!

SCM 388: Plant Tours in Business

 Dr. Qi Zou, Dr. Linda Zhu, Dr. Mark Yang, and Dr. Phuoc Pham offered a SCM 388 Plant Tour class in Spring 2024. Faculty and students visited Amazon Fulfillment Center, Martin Guitar Factory, SAP, Clark Associates, Gore Capability Center, Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, Enterprise, and ABC Supply. 

SCM 388: Plant Tours in Business offers students a hands-on opportunity to visit company facilities, observe industry best practices, and gain insights into real-world supply chain operations. Through guided tours and discussions with professionals, students learn about innovative strategies, operational excellence, and workplace culture. The course also fosters networking opportunities with potential employers, helping students explore career paths and identify their ideal company fit in the dynamic field of supply chain management.

Panel Discussions

The Supply Chain & Business Intelligence Center hosted a panel discussion of “CHANGES IN GLOBALIZATION AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE SUPPLY CHAIN” on April 3rd, 2024. The esteemed panelists include Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan, and top executives from J&J, Siemens Healthineers, IKEA, and was moderated by our adjunct professor Mrs. Komeil Nasrollahi.

Mock Interviews

Professor Christina Croft, Professor Robert Prachar, and Professor Frank Nocella run the mock interviews for 120 students in MGT498 and 48 professionals came to WCU as interviewers to help students practice interviews on 4/2/2024 and 4/4/2024. Professor Christina Croft initiated and run this program for years. Many students successfully got internships and jobs through this class, and they greatly appreciated all professors’ efforts to organize this program. 

Professor Christina Croft, Professor Terry Rubritz, and Professor Robert Prachar run the mock interviews for 120 students in MGT498 and 53 professionals came to WCU as interviewers to help students practice interviews on 3/28/2023 and 3/30/2023. Professor Christina Croft initiated and run this program for years. Many students successfully got internships and jobs through this class, and they greatly appreciated all professors’ efforts to organize this program. 

Industry Night

The TCP (Traffic Club of Philadelphia) and WCU SC&BI Center (Supply Chain and Business Intelligence Center) hosted the Industry Night and SC Outstanding Students Award Ceremony on November 10th, 2022. This is the 2nd time Dr. Lori Fuller brought the TCP professionals on campus. About 60 students met 50 professionals in the field of supply chain and logistics. Saint-Gobain/CertainTeed, a Fortune 500 company, as the featured company this year, presented their company supply chain and inspired students to work in supply chain field. The SC&BI Center reviewed the Supply Chain and SAP programs at WCU, and recognized students’ achievements in the past year in North American SAP simulation competition-Final list, SAP student certificate, case competition (IKEA and Penske case), and SC internships. Joseph Harkins, a sophomore Supply Chain student, received the outstanding supply chain student award and received $500 scholarship from SMS Rail.

Student Robot Team

Student Robot Team, Matt Burkett, Julius Albert Snoh, Abel Flores, Nick Force, and Connor Zou programed several software robots to take care of repetitive works and saved huge amounts of labor hours. Their robots sent customized invitation letters for Accounting student organizations, made nametags for several supply chain events and mock interviews, and sent customized certificates. Thanks for Dr. Peter Oehlers bringing the accounting projects to the team and Dr. Linda Zhu teaching and coaching the team.

RPA (Robotic Process Automation)

UiPath and WCU Supply Chain and Business Intelligence Center hosted the RPA (Robotic Process Automation) events on Oct. 25th and Oct. 26th, 2022. Students built software robots for data scraping and auto form filing with UiPath engineer, and learned UiPath user Ellucian’s successful RPA implementation story. Students received certificates and prizes for completing this “WCU & UiPath RPA and Bot-A-Thon Training, 2022”.

WCU joined UiPath Academic Alliance in October 2022. WCU and UiPath will collaborate on growing the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) knowledge ecosystem at WCU and community. The first RPA event, RPA Day at WCU, will be held on 10/25 and 10/26. Students will learn to build software robots, meet UiPath user companies, and earn a certificate from UiPath and WCU.