A Message from UNL Supply Chain Club

From left: Professor Scott Swenseth, Malik Al Waail, Vy Nguyen, Vy (Vivian) Bui, Whitney Wullenwaber, Hannah Walker, Ashlyn Dierks and Professor Erkut Sonmez at the annual STAFDA case competition.
From left: Professor Scott Swenseth, Malik Al Waail, Vy Nguyen, Vy (Vivian) Bui, Whitney Wullenwaber, Hannah Walker, Ashlyn Dierks and Professor Erkut Sonmez at the annual STAFDA case competition.

Nebraska Supply Chain Club organized and attended several events throughout the 2022-2023 academic year, providing our students with various networking and learning opportunities. Our club participated in STAFDA annual convention and case competition in San Diego, GP Collins case competition in Cedar Rapids, Fall club fair, and the SCMA department open house. In addition, the club organized several bi-weekly seminars by inviting guest speakers from companies including Werner, Tractor Supply, Union Pacific, Viterra, Valmont, United Airlines, Crete Carrier, Russell Stover and Fastenal. Furthermore, our club members volunteered to teach middle school students visiting campus on a field trip and participated in supply chain jeopardy games and a resume building seminar. Through such variety of experiences, our students were able to stay involved in the community, interact with employers, and learn valuable business skills.

STAFDA (Specialty Tools & Fasteners Distributors Association) is a 45-year-old educational trade association including distributors, manufacturers, rep agents, and trade press serving the construction/industrial market from around the globe. Each fall, STAFDA’s Annual Convention & Trade Show brings members together for educational workshops, a world class Trade Show, and networking opportunities. Each year, STAFDA invites a select number of students to attend its Annual Convention & Trade Show.

Nebraska Supply Chain Club attended the STAFDA annual convention and case competition that was held in San Diego during 10/30 – 11/01, 2022. Our club’s competition team won the inaugural supply chain competition which was organized during the convention.

This competition was a great experience for our students where they worked as a team on a real-life setting to improve a company's operations via the supply chain decisions they study during their courses at CoB. In addition, it was a great opportunity for our students to network with their peers at other institutions and supply chain experts from several companies across the nation.

Moreover, during the convention our students attended several educational workshops and speed interviewing sessions and had a chance to observe supplier-buyer trade transactions, deals, negotiations along with a great trade show.