Supply Chain Management Behavioral Lab Assistant for the Warehouseville Simulation

In the Fall 2021 semester, the Behavioral Lab (in the Supply Chain Management department) was interested in researching the best warehousing inventory management practices. Poor warehouse management can lead to increased lead times and lower customer satisfaction due to errors during the inventory storage and picking processes. Students enrolled in the Supply Chain Management introductory course participated in a simulation called “Warehouseville” to test best practices. In Warehouseville, students completed a series of timed tasks. Participants were incentivized to perform to the best of their ability through financial compensation based on their performance relative to the participant pool average. After the results were summarized, data analysis was performed to derive best practices that can be applied not only to the partner company, Starbucks but also to other firms/industries. As a lab assistant, I assisted in the Warehouseville simulation by helping Professor Craig Carter with any tasks leading up to, during, and following the data collection sessions that he needed support for.