#shinewithoutboundaries

Karen LAM, Year 4 student of Dual Degree Program in Technology and Management (T&M-DDP), teamed up with two Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management students, Suey LI and Matthew YU and won Second Runner-up of the 20th Annual International System and Industrial Engineering Competition 2020 (ISEEC 2020), organized by Industrial Engineering Student Association of Universitas Indonesia.

ISEEC 2020 was held on 2-6 March 2020 in Jakarta, Indonesia. It consisted of a number of rounds as evaluation. 20 teams of students from reputable universities across the globe were selected from the online preliminary round to join the main event in Jakarta. Through different rounds, participants developed solutions for real business cases provided by companies, and presented to the judges in the final stage.

This was not the first time for Karen, Suey and Matthew to participate in a competition as a team. “I would say our team is energetic and united. We enjoy challenging ourselves. That’s why we join ISEEC 2020.” Karen introduced “Gravity Force”, the team’s name. Despite the tight competition schedule and pressure faced in the final case-solving round, the team enjoyed a lot. They shared that their team had coped with many challenges including they were unable to identify the key issue of the business case, they were not sure how to solve the logistics optimization problem and they were frustrated due to tight timeline.  “We worked hard, played hard and tried to face all challenges with a positive attitude.” they said proudly.

This competition has been a great learning experience for Karen, Suey and Matthew. The team shared that the business simulation game and case presentation were very unforgettable. Participants were asked to come up with a strategy on crude procurement by studying different industrial cases. During the case study, they learnt about the relocation of Indonesia capital and how it would bring changes to the industry. Most importantly, the team saw the differences in education and cultural background as well as other teams’ thinking process and how they worked out solutions in the business simulation session. “While preparing for the final case presentation, we had chance to visit PGN, a local Indonesian natural gas company. It was an extraordinary experience for us to visit a natural gas company and understand the details of its business model, including the Indonesian government regulation, PGN’s role in the development of the new capital city, energy usage situation in Indonesia etc. It is impossible to learn about these in Hong Kong. I was grateful that the experience also gave me a chance to have a taste of what consultants do in the industry to provide pragmatic solutions.” Karen shared. 

Karen, Suey and Matthew would like to thank the Universitas Indonesia and its organizing committee, faculty members and students for making this remarkable competition happened. “It was a pleasant experience for us participate in this competition in Indonesia and meet a lot of people from all corners of the globe, with diverse religious and cultural backgrounds. We learnt a lot from their ideas, stories and the way they think.”