San Diego, California – February 16-19, 2017

Submitted by: Luis Bautista, APICS President

SHSU APICS members attended the APICS West Coast Competition held this year in San Diego, California. Prior to attending the competition and before the on-site competition begins, each team is introduced to The Case: Students took on the role of key vice presidents of a juice company (Sales, Operations, Purchasing and Supply Chain) to develop and execute those strategies to turnaround the company which was losing money. This is Round 1, and must be completed before the official competition starts. In Round 2, teams of students are given a supply chain problem to be solved using a computer simulation game. For Round 3, each team must develop a solution and then give a PowerPoint presentation explaining their rationale for their solution. Finally, during Round 4 the Top 4 teams are announced. These 4 teams are then given an opportunity to give a final presentation during a Q&A session, and are then judged by all attending professionals.

As part of the agenda, participants also had an opportunity to learn from two guest speakers: Julie Dorr, owner of the Dorr Group, “How to Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn,” and Linda Duffy, Founder and President of Ethos Human Capital Solutions, “Building Communication Skills for a Successful Career.” According to Luis Bautista, he gained more experience in public speaking and gained knowledge about managing a team, dealing with the supply chain, operations, sales, and purchasing.