A senior design team of industrial engineering and management majors Gabe Bungum, Jason Denny, Zach Kent, Collin Obowa and Annika Tweten took on the challenge of analyzing and improving DigiKey’s order fulfillment process to help the company consistently meet its promise of same-day shipping.
When DigiKey, a global distributor of electronic components, needed help improving same-day shipping, it turned to a team of NDSU engineering students.
A senior design team of industrial engineering and management majors Gabe Bungum, Jason Denny, Zach Kent, Collin Obowa and Annika Tweten took on the challenge of analyzing and improving DigiKey’s order fulfillment process to help the company consistently meet its promise of same-day shipping.
“DigiKey’s same-day shipping guarantee is a major selling point for their customers,” Kent said. “But they weren’t always meeting that goal, and our task was to find out why and how to fix it.”
The team began by mapping the company’s order processing workflow, from when an order is placed to the moment it ships out. They created a detailed simulation model that allowed them to test potential improvements.
One key insight was the existing prioritization system, which sorted orders based on shipping method, was inadvertently causing delays. Lower-priority shipments were often left waiting in the system for too long, simply because high-priority orders kept jumping the line.
“We simulated a new system that prioritized based on how long an order had been in the system, essentially a first-in, first-out approach,” Kent said. “Our model showed a 4% improvement in shipping performance with that change alone.”
Even partial implementation of the team’s recommendations could yield big results. DigiKey stands to save over $70 million annually if it sees just half of the simulated improvement in practice.
Beyond changing the prioritization logic, the team also recommended building greater process literacy within the company, especially around performance metrics like process capability.
They suggested automating parts of the order management system and enhancing process visibility to make future optimization easier.
For Tweten, the project was a capstone experience that pulled together everything she’d learned at NDSU.
“This wasn’t a problem you could solve with just one class,” she said. “We had to take everything we’d learned over the past four years and figure out how to apply it. It felt like a real-world challenge and that made it so rewarding.”
The team worked closely with DigiKey representatives Kim Heinle Nelson and Matt Scott, who were in constant communication with the students throughout the semester. That partnership, Tweten said, made a big difference.
“They were really engaged and supportive,” she said. “Their enthusiasm motivated us to do our best work.”
One of the biggest lessons Tweten will take into her career is the importance of team collaboration, especially in the face of ambiguity.
“Early on, we were each given different pieces of the puzzle,” she said. “We had to bring all that information together, agree on a direction and execute a solution within just four months. It taught me how to navigate vague problems, which is exactly what we’ll be doing in the real world.”
Every major in the College of Engineering includes a capstone experience. The course immerses student teams in hands-on design projects, many for industry clients. Student teams then display their projects at the Winter or Spring Senior Design Expo.
Companies interested in partnering with the College of Engineering on a senior design project can learn more at its Industry Connections page.
