MCA: Problem-Based Learning for Warehousing and Order Fulfillment

This Mid-Career Advancement project aims to serve the national interest by increasing student competence in the warehousing and order fulfillment industries. Large ecommerce companies can sell over 100,000 items per minute in their busy seasons and deliver those in a tight window, supported by an in-house research and implementation staff. However, many firms in the ecommerce space operate without the expertise employed by larger companies. Many of these firms may be able to identify potential areas of warehouse and order fulfillment operational improvement, but not have the in-house expertise to address these needs. Moreover, even students trained in these areas and their instructors may not have the breadth of experience to develop student, and therefore practitioner, competence in this area. Thus, there is a gap between the industry needs and the educational experience and materials available to support student competence-development in this topical area. This project will develop, refine and distribute industry-based case studies and problem-based learning scenarios for advanced undergraduate and master’s level graduate students in industrial engineering. These instructional materials will be distributed through material handling educational support groups and websites. The overall goal of this project is to develop instructional materials and hands-on activities, using a problem-based learning approach, for warehousing and order fulfillment education for undergraduate and masters Industrial Engineering students based on observable needs in the industry. This project will address the following research questions: (1) What is the impact of implementing a problem-based learning (PBL) approach for warehousing and order fulfillment? (2) If problem-based learning is not the best choice for students to learn warehousing and order fulfillment, is a case-based approach valid? (3) Can problem-based learning materials be developed based on interactions with local companies with warehousing and order fulfillment activities that are not based on industry-based research projects? Project goals will be achieved through four sets of activities: The principal investigator will (a) develop place-based expertise in local warehousing and order fulfillment organizations through extensive site visits; (b) develop technical expertise in Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation and FactoryFLOW; (c) develop and assess cases and PBL modules for undergraduates and master’s students; and (d) disseminate results to the research and teaching communities. Student learning will be assessed using direct and indirect measures, including interviews and student observations. Project results and outcomes will be disseminated through engineering education conference and journal mechanisms and professional society websites. This MCA award is funded through NSF's IUSE: EDU Program, which supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.