Recently, the National Finals of the 3rd International Supply Chain Modeling and Design Competition in 2023 were held in Wuhan. The team of Tianjin University, jointly guided by Professor He Longfei and Gu Minhao from the College of Management and Economics (CoME) of Tianjin University (TJU), stood out and won the grand prize of the competition with the highest score.

TJU team consists of Zhang Hui, Liu Shuling, Wang Yujie, Chen Zhepei from the major of logistics engineering, and Yang Haoran from the major of industrial engineering. At the same time, Tianjin University won the Best Organization Award, and two teachers won the title of "Excellent Instructor".

The International Supply Chain Modeling and Design Competition is one of the high-level supply chain modeling competitions with high influence in the field of operations and supply chain management. The 2023 International Supply Chain Modeling and Design Competition is hosted by China Communications and Transportation Association and organized by Wuhan University of Technology. Hundreds of academic teams participated in the competition, including teams from the University of Science and Technology of China, Tianjin University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan University, Shandong University, Central South University, Dalian University of Technology, Macau University of Science and Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Southwest Jiaotong University, East China University of Science and Technology and Wuhan University of Technology. The theme of this competition is "Digital Modeling Empowerment, Cost Reduction, Efficiency Enhancement and Chain Strengthening", introducing practical cases of enterprise supply chain. The participating teams use supply chain modeling theory, methods, and tools to collect data, model systems, analyze problems, and design solutions based on the background and data of the case, as well as the specific problems to be solved. They also summarize and present the design proposal. In the final stage, the 77 teams engaged in fierce competition on different tracks, striving hard and presenting a brilliant scene.

The China Transportation Association (CCTA), the host of the 2023 International Supply Chain Modeling and Design Competition, is a national and industry non-profit social and economic organization with legal personality jointly initiated by departments such as transportation, postal, civil aviation, and military transportation under the approval and guidance of the National Development and Reform Commission. It is a member unit of the National Joint Conference of Modern Logistics. This competition was held to actively respond to the national strategy of maintaining the security and stability of the industrial chain and supply chain. In order to deepen the cooperation between industry, academia, and research in the supply chain field, strengthen the research and application of supply chain modeling technology, and promote the cultivation of high-end supply chain modeling talents, the International Supply Chain Modeling Design Competition hosted by the China Transportation Association required participating teams to use internationally leading supply chain modeling theories, methods, and tools to solve practical problems in enterprise supply chain management and decision-making.

Zhang Hui, leader of the team of TJU, was invited to give a speech on the award at the conference as the representative of the outstanding players in the competition. Zhang Hui mentioned that, the modernization of the industrial chain supply chain plays an important supporting role in promoting Chinese path to modernization. The International Supply Chain Modeling and Design Competition provides valuable platforms and opportunities for university students to integrate industry, academia, research, and application. TJU has made full use of the development opportunities of New Engineering, New Business and New Liberal Arts, constantly explored the innovative path of talent cultivation mode, and promoted the comprehensive development of interdisciplinary and integration of industry, university, research and application. With the continuous highlighting of digitalization and intelligence,the CoME is practicing the new business philosophy, focusing on building a world-class management discipline, and cultivating first-class talents who can deeply integrate digital technology and business management. CoME responds to national strategies, cultivates students for comprehensive development, and provides important support for the development of digital and smart supply chains in China.

The 2023 International Supply Chain Modeling and Design Competition lasted for six months, from registration and the preliminary rounds to the finals, with over 2,300 individuals and more than 400 teams registered for the competition. Representing TJU, the winning team "We Will Take Action Regardless Of Any Challenges" consisted of five undergraduate students from CoME: Zhang Hui, Liu Shuling, Wang Yujie, Chen Zhepei, and Yang Haoran. Throughout the competition, they received strong support from CoME.

Encouraged and inspired by the mission of CoME to "Develop leaders with fact-based thinking, innovative spirit and social awareness through the creation, application, dissemination and integration of management, economics and engineering knowledge", students worked hard and actively prepared for the entire competition. The supply chain reconstruction and operation optimization plan finally provided by the team directly faced the key pain points of the enterprise, focused on its supply chain network design and inventory management from the strategic and operational levels, and proposed several solutions, providing a new solution for the enterprise to hedge the decentralized demand risk, enhance the supply chain resilience and improve the operation sustainability, which has both theoretical contributions and practical guiding value. The plan received high praise from the competition judges.

In recent years, the CoME has attached great importance to subject competitions, and students have repeatedly achieved excellent results in influential national competitions such as the National College Student Logistics Design Competition, the Riri Shun Logistics Maker Training Camp, the Industrial Engineering and Lean Management Innovation Competition, and the International Supply Chain Modeling and Design Competition.

By College of Management and Economics

Editor: Sun Xiaofang