Ann Arbor, MI – On September 15, the Tauber Institute for Global Operations hosted the 2023 SPOTLIGHT! Team Project Showcase and Scholarship Competition at the Sheraton Hotel Ann Arbor. The SPOTLIGHT! event is an annual competitive presentation of operations solutions developed by Tauber Institute business and engineering student teams during their 14-week team projects at top global companies. 18 teams of University of Michigan business and engineering students presented the results of their team projects and competed for $40,000 in scholarships. The event included three keynote speakers and awards for longevity to industry sponsors and faculty.

This year marked an incredible 30 years for the Tauber Institute continuing impactful work in developing new leaders for operations and supply chain careers. SPOTLIGHT! was first held in 1995 on campus, moving off-campus after the institute grew in numbers.

“There are over 1500 graduates in the program,” said Joel Tauber, benefactor of the Tauber Institute. “We've modified teaching business, and teaching in general, by the experimentation we've done in the Institute. Action-based learning started with us, and it’s now in other business schools around the country. The other experiment we did was collaborative, working together between schools. Sounds like common sense, but back when we started the program in the early 90s, there was competition between the departments. Now, they’ve discovered that together, you can accomplish much more.”

As part of a comprehensive training program, students participated in onsite industry partner tours and the LeadershipAdvantage^SM program in preparation for their Tauber projects. SPOTLIGHT! is the capstone presentation and celebration of those team projects. The 2023 Tauber team projects returned a projected savings of $820.3 million and valuable workflow and sustainability improvements.

 “Over the past 14 weeks, [Tauber students] were change agents and problem-solvers — tackling real,

 company challenges and delivering exceptional results,” said Dean Steven Ceccio of the College of Engineering. “Among your efforts, you have improved process speed and safety in fulfillment centers, evaluated communications methods, identified and improved critical process steps, optimized manufacturing and supply chain strategies, and enhanced companies’ abilities to make data-informed decisions. And, importantly, these projects provided thoughtful and forward-thinking opportunities for our students to grow as multi-disciplinary leaders.”

As industry partners continue to work through disruptions to supply chains, including material scarcity, increasing logistical challenges, difficult demand forecasting, changing consumer attitudes, and cost pressures, all while undergoing digital transformation and restructuring, Tauber team projects continued to help identify the specific challenges our industry partners face and deliver long and short-term solutions that drive measurable value well beyond the summer.

 “Action-learning orientation. You see this through these projects,” said Dean Sharon Matusik of Ross School of Business. “This helps students make decisions under uncertainty, deal with all sorts of information, and work collaboratively across different knowledge areas to come up with solutions to complex problems that face us. Tauber does this especially well in terms of the supply chain and operations world, where bringing together those different areas of expertise is absolutely critical going forward.”

The results are not only transformative to our students and their future careers but to the future success of our industry partners as well. The depth and breadth of our students’ projects reflect the demands faced by operations in an ever-changing world. The Tauber Institute hopes to continue to showcase the University of Michigan’s solid global reputation, both at SPOTLIGHT! and beyond, and continue to build partnerships with leading companies who know our students can be called upon to solve some of their most challenging problems.

Click here to learn more about the Tauber team projects, including how to join and how to sponsor a team project.