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Loosen up the mouse-clicking muscles and rev the
mental engine: Twelve teams of students from around the
world geared up for the conclusion of the most intense
Web-based virtual supply chain game of their lives.
Each team was competing for international glory — the
first-place title in the inaugural Global Supply Chain
Competition, hosted by the Smith School and partners Delft
University of Technology in the Netherlands and Sun
Microsystems. Each three-member team proudly represented its
nation with a portfolio of high-tech products to source and
sell for the highest profits and market share.
 All
the action took place in real time, with teams participating
from their home countries across the globe. You could sense
the tension—even over the phone and Skype voice over
Internet lines connecting the players—as the final moments
of the 90-minute game ticked away.
“Players, we’re now entering the final round of
competition. Good luck!” announced Alexander Verbraeck,
co-developer of the game from Delft. He traveled to College
Park with co-developer Stijn-Pieter Van Houten to referee,
call the play-by-play and run the technical aspects of the
game.
Smith Supply Chain Management Center co-directors and
game co-developers Sandor Boyson, research professor and
Thomas Corsi, Michelle E. Smith Professor of Logistics, ran
game operations from the sidelines, both anxious for the
outcome of the first full-scale global competition of their
game, more than five years in the making.
The Smith team worked feverishly, but alas, the sweet
taste of victory was not theirs that March 27 morning.
Though the home team held the lead for most of the
competition, the final frenzied minutes proved too much for
the Terps’ risky inventory strategy. In the end, the
winner’s podium was dominated by international competitors.
The University of Groningen team in the Netherlands team
went wild, heard cheering and clapping by phone, as
Verbraeck announced they’d captured the top spot. In second
place, Taiwan’s Soochow University, followed by Nankai
University in China.--CT |
