QUEST & GE Innovation and Consulting Conference Highlights Creative Solutions to Real-World Problems

The posters were set out, the props were in place, the students were in suits, and the atmosphere was electric. The first QUEST & GE Innovation and Consulting Conference, held on December 13, 2006, was the highlight of the year for seniors in the Smith Schools Quality Enhancement and Teams (QUEST) Program. More than 200 people gathered to view the storyboards and hear student teams describe their consulting projects on a night that capped off months of hard work and preparation.

These consulting projects form the senior practicum portion of the QUEST Program. QUEST, one of the Smith Schools specialized Undergraduate Fellows tracks, is operated jointly with the A. James Clark School of Engineering and admits students from the Smith School, the Clark School and the College of Mathematical, Computer and Physical Sciences.

Seniors in the QUEST program spend the better part of the fall semester working with a faculty advisor on consulting projects for corporations, all of which have real-life importance and implications. This year student teams worked on 15 consulting projects for 14 companies in industries that ranged the gamut from aerospace to auto manufacturing, and hospitality services to health care.

During the presentations, students described their methodology, how they evaluated their ideas, and how they conducted benchmarking exercises. Their background work is often highly quantitative as they produce models and databases to process information.

One group of students provided Exxon-Mobil with recommendations to entice 18-24 year olds to spend more money in its convenience stores. The team compiled an enormous amount of background information that included surveys with the target age group and in-depth category research before preparing its final report, which they presented to top executives at Exxon-Mobil's world headquarters in Virginia. It was a thrilling experience for the team.

This morning we met with the heads of Exxon-Mobil one-on-one, said team member Ori Zohar. I don't know when was the last time a group of four college students got to speak to such high-level executives for an hour.

We learned not just how to give recommendations, but how to give implementable recommendations that they can use and bring into their store, that fit with Exxon-Mobil's ideology, said team member Gary Palmer II.

Exxon-Mobil executives were so impressed with their student consultants that they were ready to fly the students to a major convention of convenience store owners, reported faculty advisor Gerald Suarez, director of the QUEST program. Each of the students was offered a job on the spot, said Suarez. The executives were headed to a major meeting in Texas, but they held the corporate jet so they could hear the entire presentation. Exxon-Mobil plans to implement some of the students recommendations immediately. One executive commented on the relevancy and value of the QUEST project and praised its competitive price, especially compared to the cost of hiring a consulting firm. The experience was so positive for the company that Exxon-Mobil expressed interest in sponsoring another student consulting project next year.

The Daimler-Chrysler Team's innovations focused on safety, including a Drive-Awake system.

Exxon-Mobil wasn't the only company to receive useful deliverables from their consulting project. During their background research, the team tasked to develop innovative ideas for Daimler-Chrysler vehicles found that safety was a key concern for consumers. So their innovations focused on safety, including a Drive-Awake system, which uses sensors in the cars steering wheel to monitor the drivers heart rate, and a small camera in the dash to track the drivers head and eye movements. If the system detects that the driver is dropping off, an alarm in the drivers seat headrest vibrates and makes a noise, waking the driver. Its an idea that will make driving safer and that will make Daimler-Chrysler cars more attractive to consumers.

A lot of people talk about how innovation is good, but we actually learned how to do it, said team member Dimitriy Fotiyev. It wasn't a simple one-step process. I think the most important thing we came away with was the structured approach we learned. When we need to innovate in the future we will be able to take this approach and transfer it to other projects.

One team went beyond just making recommendations to their clients. The team working for GE Healthcare developed an outsourcing plan for the manufacturing and assembly of a rotating IV pole and then worked with the company to make that outsourcing happen. The project was part of the company's initiative to streamline its Maternal Health Care unit using Lean manufacturing principles. GE had to work with 12 different suppliers to manufacture the poles, so outsourcing will result in a tremendous saving of physical space, time and money for the company. The team also developed a 100-page cookbook for GE Healthcare to follow when outsourcing other products.

Working side-by-side with clients on QUEST projects can give students experiences that they would never have otherwise, says students. We participated in supplier negotiations between GE and another supplier. We got firsthand experience in working with suppliers and making agreements, said GE Healthcare team member Ryan Morton. The GE Healthcare team was honored for their excellent work with the very first PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting Project of the Year Award, presented during the closing program.

Each of the consulting projects resulted in a dynamic learning experience for the students and creative, real-life business solutions for the sponsoring companies. Two of the student teams will even pursue patents based on the results of their projects, including one team that designed a solar-powered trash compacting receptacle which they hope to market to college campuses across the country.

Among the hundreds of attendees that evening were representatives from the 14 companies that sponsored consulting projects this year. Kathy Chrien, who attended the event as a representative of W.R. Grace, appreciated the enthusiasm and hard work the student consultants brought to their projects. I think they looked at things differently than I was used to looking at them, so they brought a fresh perspective, she said.

Chrien was just one of many corporate representatives praising the professionalism of QUEST students and the quality of their work. QUEST consulting projects gave companies a chance to see some of the schools best students in action and gain valuable business solutions, while giving students the opportunity to work with real-life executives on real-life business problems a win-win situation for both students and businesses.

With these great experiences under their belts, QUEST students have an introduction to the work world that will give them an invaluable head start in whatever careers they pursue. Like the students from that Exxon-Mobil team. One student is going to take the job offer, and another has accepted an internship with Exxon-Mobil. The others are still considering their options. Whatever they do, they and their QUEST fellows can look forward to a bright future.

▓ Rebecca Winner, Senior Writer & Editor, Office of Marketing Communications