Students Take Part in First-Ever International Capstone Project With Walmart

Image of Students and staff members from Walmex.

During the Spring 2015 semester, four students from the University of Arkansas’ Industrial Engineering Department were pioneers in a first-ever international industrial engineering design project, working with Walmart de México y Centroamérica (Walmex) in Mexico City. In collaboration with Walmart’s International Division, students Adam Klausing, Kelsey Kraynik, Lucas Ivanovic, and Stephanie Bakewell had the opportunity to travel to Mexico City and work closely with home office and store associates to help solve a real business problem. The students had an opportunity to gain unique international experience in conjunction with their coursework. “Our senior design project with Walmart International and Walmex went above and beyond our expectations as it provided a firsthand experience of the skills needed to be successful in a global enterprise,” said Adam Klausing, student and project manager. logo for Walmart Mexico Centroamerica

Industrial Engineering Design is the capstone design course for undergraduate students majoring in industrial engineering. The purpose of a capstone design course is to give senior engineering students the opportunity to apply knowledge learned throughout their college education to a significant project. The project scope was to help continue to define and refine routines and standard operating procedures for store associate roles in Sam’s Club stores in Mexico while making recommendations for process enhancements. By leveraging their knowledge and learning, they gained insight into the international operations of the world’s largest retailer and simultaneously delivered value to the organization. The standard operating procedures will be available to store employees for training and use on the job.

International experiences are invaluable and are becoming increasingly important to employers and universities across the country. Departments such as Industrial Engineering (IE) have created an internal objective of providing 25 percent of all IE students with global studies experience. One way in which the IE department at University of Arkansas is working to meet this objective is by expanding its international offerings. Through relationships with companies such as Walmart, students are now able to gain global experience through internships, co-ops, and, most recently, international senior design projects.
The students created a video to share their incredible experience in Mexico and the content is available on the Arkansas Academy of Industrial Engineering (AAIE) website. The video includes a short introduction on the project followed by a picture slideshow. For more information on the AAIE, please visit the main page at https://aaie.uark.edu/global-studies/.