ISE Senior Design: Kroger

Paul Barina,
Senior, Industrial and Systems Engineering

Athens, OH 18 April 2013 – Our senior design project was in coordination with Kroger Corporation, which is one of the nation’s largest grocery chains, at their store right here in Athens. We are focused on the front-end operations, which deal with the checkout process. We as a team are in charge of making this process more efficient. Making things better is the heart and soul of Industrial & Systems Engineering.

We spent countless hours in the local Kroger grocery store collecting valuable data. This data provided the foundation for our project, where we applied Six Sigma methods. Six Sigma is a tool used by Industrial & System Engineers used to reduce variance and promote efficiency. It can be used in tandem with Lean Manufacturing which reduces waste within a given process. These efficiency tools helped us find areas of improvement within the front end of Kroger. When we find these areas of possible improvement, it is then onto improving the process. This is where the real fun begins. With our suggestions there are millions of dollars at stake to be saved.

These projects create a great opportunity for students like me to get out into the real world and work for real corporations. This is something I plan on putting on my resume and remaining proud of the work I have accomplished with the rest of my team. Senior design is a great way to end my journey here at Ohio University as an undergraduate student. I will use the lessons I’ve learned for the rest of my life.

Steve Burns,
Senior, Industrial and Systems Engineering

Athens, OH 10 April 2013 – This semester two other ISE students and I were involved in an international computer simulation competition. The competition was a two month long project, put on by IIE (Institute of Industrial Engineers). We were given a problem statement about 2 months ago and along with some basic guidelines to follow. The top three teams from around the world, decided by a group of judges, get to travel to Puerto Rico to show off their projects with a chance to win first prize.

The problem statement was about a coal company’s coal shipping operation from three cities in the United States to four cities around the world. The overall goal of the project was to see if the current operation was successful and if not, then to provide a solution that will produce the lowest overall shipping costs for the company. The way we could change the operation was to change the number of ships that the company was using, and also route the ships differently around the world.

Animation was a big part of the judging for this competition. Below is a snapshot of the animation of our project. You can see some ships traveling from city to city, and the smaller screens are the individual cities where you can watch the ships coming into the shipping harbors.

This project was a lot of fun to work on. The problem statement was full of small details that could greatly influence the outcome; such as weather causing shipping ports to close or the cost it takes a ship to travel through different canals. It also gave our team a chance to participate in the student expo here at the university, where students from any discipline across campus come and show off projects they have been working on throughout the year.

ISE Senior Design: O’ Bleness Surgical Equipment

Steve Burns,
Senior, Industrial and Systems Engineering

Athens, OH 7 March 2013 – As a senior in the industrial and systems engineering program, I am currently involved in our program’s senior design class. The senior project involves the class splitting into groups of 3 or 4 people, and taking on a project for a real world company. My groups project is with the local hospital in Athens, O’Bleness Memorial Hospital. These real world projects are a great way to close out the years spent in school and prepare you for a career upon graduation.

The project my team has involves the movement of surgical equipment through the operating rooms at the hospital. We are investigating the reasons that items may be missing from an operating room when a surgery is set to begin. The overall goal of the project is to create a more efficient flow of items from inventory to individual operating rooms, ensuring that no surgical items are missing.

I am really enjoying this opportunity to work on this project. The senior capstone course really helps to bring together all the tools and concepts I have learned, and gives a better understanding on when to use these tools. Working on real world projects such as this gives a much bigger picture than regular textbook problems. There is not one single way to solve the problems you come across, and you need to reason to even determine what the best way to solve the problem is.

I am very grateful that ISE requires capstone courses such as these. It is another great learning tool at our exposure and is a wonderful way to bring a collegiate career to a close.

Career Fairs

Paul Barina,
Senior, Industrial and Systems Engineering

Athens, OH 25 February 2013 – As a soon-to-be-graduating senior here at Ohio University, I decided it was
best to attend any career fairs Ohio University had to offer. The career fairs are a great place to visit to look for work or an internship. Last week, there were two on campus and there was an excitement in the air regardless of why anyone was there.

On Tuesday, there were around 100 companies present for the campus-wide career fair at Baker Center Ballroom. With so many companies and so many
young college students dressed in their best, I could not help but get excited. One great aspect about the career fair is that there are many industries that are present. I saw and spoke to companies within the automotive, medical, food, and general manufacturing industries. This variety of industry allowed me to see what was really out there. Then on Thursday, there was a second career fair just for companies looking to hire Russ College students.

When surveying the options, it was important that I home in on all the engineering companies and more specifically the ones that offer Industrial
Engineering jobs. Once I had identified them, it was time to go show them what I was all about. This part is crucial. I knew that I as a young engineering student did not have long to impress the professionals present. These professionals could be anything from a Human Resource expert to an engineering manager and I knew they knew exactly what to ask and what they wanted to see in me and the other soon to be graduates. When approaching recruiters, I couldn’t help but feel a rush of excitement along with the given nervousness. These nerves might show a little as the first conversations occur, but it is easy to get in a good groove and just rock it as time goes on.

Of course, being able to feel good at the career fair took me quite a good amount of practice. There are resources within the university and Russ College that have helped me secure practice and training to know exactly how to dress, what to say, and even tuning up my resume. The Russ College of Engineering now has a class where undergraduates can go and receive all this vital information weekly.

Overall, I always leave the career fairs put on by Ohio University with a great feeling. I always feel a sense of pride as I leave, knowing I am not only working toward my future career academically through schoolwork but also professionally.

Basketball Season at Ohio

Steve Burns,
Senior, Industrial and Systems Engineering

Athens, OH 28 January 2013 – Now that the new semester is here, I am very excited for the rest of Ohio University’s basketball season. The basketball games are a great way to have some fun and take a break from schoolwork during the week. These games have become one of my favorite activities here on campus because of the excitement that exists in the Convo during a close game and because of the large number of students that show up to each home game. Also, it doesn’t hurt that the basketball program here is not too shabby…and by not too shabby I mean defending MAC champions and a Sweet 16 run last season.

Not only are the home games a great time, road games can be even more fun. It’s great when enough people get together to make a trip to an away game. By far my favorite experience following the basketball team was when they were making a run into the NCAA tournament last season. A group of my friends and I went to the MAC championship game in Cleveland to watch Ohio win there, only to pack up shortly after and head to Nashville, Tennessee to watch the first round of tournament games. This is one of my favorite memories being a student here thus far. There were students and fans from schools across the country gathered in one central location to watch and cheer on their respective schools. The Ohio game versus Michigan was a thriller and one that I will never forget, both because of the win and the impressive number of OU students and supporters who made the trip to Nashville to cheer on the team.

So I’m pumped it is basketball season again and that conference games are underway. Hopefully the basketball team will have another incredible season because if they do I know I will be watching and along for the ride.