Student, Industry Collaboration Highlight Industrial Engineering Capstone Symposium

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Industrial Engineering seniors showed off the culmination of a year's work April 26 at the third annual Industrial Engineering Capstone Symposium at the Fayetteville Town Center.

During the 2018-19 academic year, 65 industrial engineering students participated in the industrial engineering senior capstone experience as part of 13 teams of four or five students. Every student pursuing the Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering at the University of Arkansas is required to complete the two-semester course sequence. Richard Cassady, professor of industrial engineering, coordinates the Industrial Engineering Capstone Experience courses.

The teams are matched with an industrial partner, led by a student project manager and advised by a member of the industrial engineering faculty. In the fall semester, teams begin by conducting background research on their industry partner and the issues of interest to that partner.

Students develop a detailed understanding of the process or system of interest and obtain the data necessary to conduct preliminary analysis into the issues faced by the industry. Based on their preliminary analysis, they define objectives for their spring semester work, the performance measures they will use to measure their success in achieving the objectives, and the deliverables they will provide their partner at the end of the year.

In the spring semester, teams apply their industrial engineering skills to achieve their project objectives. Through their defined performance measures, they assess their success in achieving their objectives and create their project deliverables. They also document information necessary for their industry partner to use their deliverables.

The experience concludes with a symposium, during which teams communicate their research in an exhibit and poster session. Teams also deliver detailed, 35-minute presentations.

Team Awards

• Best Overall Project Award: Dasher Smith, Project Manager; Andrew Burroughs, Elisa Daniel, Oscar Guzman and Joe Thongsovath for their project, Increasing Plant Productivity by Improving the Current Scheduling Process - Tyson Foods, Inc. Faculty Advisor: Tish Pohl.
• Outstanding Achievement in Data Analysis: Morgan Hartsell, Project Manager; Nikki Hayes, Jack Porter, Tad Dixon, and Parker King for their project, Increase Profitability by Predicting Customer Operating Ratios using Machine Learning - ArcBest. Faculty Advisor: Karl Schubert.
• Outstanding Achievement in Modeling: Christian Faubel, Project Manager; Carter McDonald, Jasmine Richard, Steven Litwiller and Alicia McComb for their project, Reducing Internal Fuel Cost by Improving Operational Procedures - Gerdau. Faculty Advisor: John English.
• Outstanding Achievement in Decision Support: Alec Hewitt, Project Manager; Vincent Chang, Ruby George, Mikki Harrell and Blake Yates for their project, Streamlining the Parcel Rating Process using Customer Data Automation - Green Mountain Technology. Faculty Advisor: Chase Rainwater.
• Impact Award: Matt Millis, Project Manager; Jake Harrison, Parker Galligan, Josh Jensen and Cory Stewart for their project, Improving Staffing and Resource Allocation through Forecasting of Emergency Department Patient Volumes and Admission Rates - Parkland Health & Hospital System. Faculty Advisor: Shengfan Zhang.

Individual Awards

• Outstanding Project Managers: Nicole Frear, Kaitlin Smithy and Luke Turner.
• Outstanding Team Members: Dustin Adcock, Tad Dixon and Kenny Phipps.
• Outstanding Faculty Advisors: Assistant Professor, Kelly Sullivan; Associate Professor, Chase Rainwater and Professor, Karl Schubert.
• Outstanding Industry Partners: Kirby Clark, ArcBest; Clint Johnson, Gerdau and Alex Wong, J.B. Hunt.

Other Projects

The following additional projects were also presented at the 2019 Capstone Experience Symposium:

• Improving Outpatient Flow and Experiences by Implementing Simulation Techniques to Improve Resource Utilization. Industry partner: Central Arkansas Veteran's Health Care System. Team members: Kevin Diaz, Project Manager; Andrew Clark, Lauren Curran and Joy Jenkins. Faculty Advisor: Greg Parnell.
• Supporting Product Innovation by Categorizing Products, Analyzing Flavor Profiles, and Defining Historical Trends. Industry partner: The Hershey Company. Team members: Nicole Frear, Project Manager; Jalal Almuhanna, Abdul Almusaiteer, Ashley Johnson and Kenny Phipps. Faculty Advisor: Art Chaovalitwongse.
• Identifying Post Seasonal Missed Sales Opportunities using Automated Data Analysis. Industry Partner: The Hershey Company. Team members: Bria Garcia, Project Manager; Brooke Larkin, Ty Martindale, Hector Ramos and Alejandro Torrico. Faculty Advisor: Ed Pohl.
• Automating Product Selection and Removal Process for Cross Dock Operation via Decision Support Tool. Industry Partner: Medtronic PLC. Team members: Nate Hemby, Project Manager; Kyle Adams, Tylon Jackson, Damon Pettis and Ben Thornton. Faculty Advisor: Manuel Rossetti.
• Improving Capital Investment Decisions by Increasing the Fidelity of Return on Capital Employed. Industry Partner: ABF Freight®. Team members: Kyle Kraichely, Project Manager; Austin Knabe, Sydney Motes, Theo Munoz and Josselyn Terrazas. Faculty Advisor: Haitao Liao.
• Improving Load Planning by Modeling Variability in Driver Activity Time. Industry partner: J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc. (Intermodal Division). Team members: Emily Matlock, Project Manager; Majed Alahmadi, McKenzie Barnes, Hunter Chastain and Sam Jeffcoat. Faculty Advisor: Kelly Sullivan.
• Improving the New Business Opportunity Process Using a Decision Support Tool and Optimization Model. Industry partner: J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc. Team members: Kaitlin Smithey, Project Manager; Coleman Crouch, Jaylan Matthews, Tara Minmier and Reid Skinner. Faculty Advisor: Ashlea Bennett Milburn.
• Improving Forecasting Accuracy of Intermodal Pickup Demand by Integrating Statistical Forecasting Methods. Industry partner: J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc. Team members: Luke Turner, Project Manager; Dustin Adcock, Payton Moore, Olivia Ohlstein and James Waller. Faculty Advisor: Justin Chimka.