Twenty-three teams from Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) completed real-world Capstone projects for the fall 2018 semester. These teams presented their projects at the Capstone Expo on December 4^th.

At the Expo, Senior Design team Cox Automotive took home the ISyE Judges’ Choice Award. From among the 23 teams, three – Grady, Textronomists, and Trash Talk – were selected as finalists in the ISyE Best of Senior Design competition. Grady was chosen as the first-place winner.

“The impact and the breadth of the Senior Design projects are truly remarkable, ranging from developing a strategy for disrupting the transmission of rabies in Haiti, reducing truck dispatch delays for a major 3PL, to creating the system design for mobile ordering services at a major league sports stadium,” said ISyE Director of Professional Practice and Senior Design Coordinator Dima Nazzal. “Through our Senior Design program, ISyE has a very large impact on society, both locally and globally.  We are very proud of our students!”

Senior Design team Grady worked alongside Grady Memorial Hospital staff from the infusion center, pharmacy, and laboratory, seeking ways to increase the number of infusion patients served per week and reduce the appointment lead time. New scheduling practices were identified and evaluated that promise to increase the infusion center throughput by as much as 39 percent and support Grady’s journey toward becoming a nationally ranked hospital.

“I had a wonderful experience working with this dedicated and talented team. Their award is a testament to their intellect and perseverance,” said Dr. Jennifer Brandt, a rheumatologist at Grady Memorial Hospital. “They asked excellent questions and had a unique perspective that fostered important conversations among the various teams involved at the infusion center including pharmacy, laboratory, and nursing. Their suggestions have the potential to make a large impact for throughput at the Grady Memorial Hospital Infusion Center now and in the future.”

The team members included Ayush Agrawal, Vivek Jajoo, Kendall McRae, Nihal Shah, Rohil Shah, Mauricio Taborga, Michael Wang, and Kexin Zhang. They were advised by Professor Emeritus Leon McGinnis.

Senior Design team Textronomists’ project goal was to increase the throughput of Textron’s small baggage tractor production line by reducing the number of missing parts in the warehouse. The team created an inventory management model and Kanban system, as well as a redesigned material storage layout. Upon implementation, Textron’s daily tractor production will increase by five percent, enabling them to reduce their backlogged orders and increase annual profit by $1.2 million.

Team members included Raianna Brown, Brenna Fromayan, Frank Johnson, Susannah Jordshaugen, Faiyaz Khimani, Sunmin Kim, and Joshua Wilkerson. They were advised by Fouts Family Early Career Professor and Associate Professor Kamran Paynabar.

Senior Design team Trash Talk worked with Mercedes-Benz Stadium on their Zero Waste Initiative to develop a plan for a Zero Waste Super Bowl in February. To accomplish this, the stadium must divert 90 percent or more of its waste away from landfills through reusing, recycling, and composting. The team focused not only on creating a one-time Zero Waste solution but also on implementing processes and improvements that would allow every event to potentially be Zero Waste. 

Team members included Wilson Harmond, Savannah Harris, Mallory Hu, Ashley Ko, Austin O’Farrell, Sydney Phillips, Jakob Robinson, and Jordan Shollenberger. They were advised by Professor Gamze Tokol-Goldsman.

Senior Design team Cox Automotive, which took home the ISyE Judges’ Choice Award at Capstone, worked with Meridian Remarketing, a subsidiary of Cox Automotive, to meet the rise in demand by increasing the scalability of and confidence in their decision process. This team used statistical modeling to support Meridian Remarketing in vehicle valuation and deciding whether to transport or recondition a vehicle. By supplementing their current system with statistically driven decisions, Meridian Remarketing can support the growth of Cox Automotive and a potential increase of $8 million in revenue in 2019.

"The Georgia Tech Senior Design team analyzed a largely informal vehicle remarketing process, and using historical data, was able to identify key decision points and quantify the potential cost savings to Cox Automotive," said Brett Carpenter, senior director of data science at Cox. "The team delivered a solid foundation upon which our data science team can build. A consistent, predictable process that simplifies or automates manual decision-making is critical to our remarketing business as volumes continue to grow in 2019 and beyond."

Team members included Maggie Jennings, Alan Johnson, Kelly Kronenberger, Sidd Meka, Will Olsson, Ashley Paek, Meghan Rathie, and Zoe Stein. They were advised by Associate Professor Yajun Mei.