Page 41 - Arkansas Trucking Report Volume 22 Issue 6

dessert plates can actually deliver des-
sert (as the vehicles are making food “WE WANT [STUDENTS] TO BE READY TO GO IN AND
deliveries in cities like Washington
D.C.) through snow the height of the CHALLENGE THINKING, CHALLENGE ASSUMPTIONS,
wheels themselves. ASK THE HARD QUESTIONS, ASK WHY. ULTIMATELY
Arkansas students have a hands-on THOSE ARE GOING TO BE THE STUDENTS, I THINK,
opportunity to learn about new ways to
approach the costly final mile of deliv- THAT ARE REALLY GOING TO HELP TRANSFORM THE
ery in any supply chain. This kind of BUSINESSES IN ARKANSAS AND TO DEAL WITH THE
collaboration is what the lab was made CHALLENGES THAT’RE AHEAD OF US.”
for—to marry students to business, said
Johnson.
The lab isn’t for a particular type —DR. BRENT WILLIAMS, CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SUPPLY
of business or innovation. It’s actually CHAIN MANAGEMENT AT THE SAM WALTON COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
to nurture and accelerate innovative
thinking, says Dr. Brent Williams, chair
of the Department of Supply Chain INNOVATING LOGISTICS when you bought the item, and so we’re
Management at the Walton College Situated in Northwest Arkansas working with Walmart to try to identify
of Business, so the students who work near the biggest retailer in the country how can you mix and match and how
there are ready to become entrepreneurs and some of the biggest and best truck- might you play a different role.”
or intrapreneurs inside their compa- ing companies, the lab is well-posi- With several projects in the works,
nies, bringing new ways of thinking to tioned to challenge assumptions in the the lab has actual prototypes of prod-
problem-solving. supply chain and logistics sector. ucts all around the space. In every other
Customers want almost every- headline, we read about how ecom-
INNOVATIVE THINKING thing to come to them instead of merce is killing the brick-and-mortar
“Our mission is to produce stu- vice-versa, and that has made the final stores, but the students here are work-
dents who will become catalysts of mile extremely expensive. Starship ing on a product that doesn’t cut out
innovation, both in the marketplace Technologies offers one solution, but the brick-and-mortar experience, it
as an entrepreneur or in the business certainly not the only one. improves it—through the use of an arti-
world as an intrapreneur. Either of In the student union is a bank of ficial intelligence shopping cart.
those are great outcomes, but catalysts lockers, a product of the relationship A company called Five Elements has
of innovation,” Johnson said. between the studio, the supply chain partnered with the lab to improve the
Williams explains that the space is management department and UPS. As customer experience, develop mobile
here to prepare students to be innova- the first campus in the U.S. to have a apps and technology around how the
tive and “think from an innovation UPS locker, the University of Arkansas cart could communicate and interact
perspective.” He points to a semicircle is part of a test to understand what with shoppers. The prototype doesn’t
of chairs around whiteboards and a happens when you can get a hub closer look much different than your average
television screen mounted on the wall, to the customer. shopping cart. The shape’s the same, but
“Right here, [businesses] will come “It’s actually part of the classroom a built-in tablet lets a customer pull up
in with a challenge, with a business now so students are continuing to take his shopping list, make substitutions,
problem, and the ideation session will apart pieces of that experience and connect to navigation of the store and
be designed to bring together students, work through how you optimize it,” where every item is located, mobile
engineering and other disciplines, with Johnson said. payment and can even tell the cart to
business executives. “We’ve got students working with follow the customer out to his car to
“We want [students] to be ready to Walmart and Unilever to identify solu- unload his purchases.
go in and challenge thinking, challenge tions around packaging. If you think The idea is to make the most of
assumptions, ask the hard questions, about the role that packaging plays, time in the store instead of completely
ask why. Ultimately those are going to it’s very different now as we’re look- bypassing the store.
be the students, I think, that are really ing to an omnichannel world,” he said.
going to help transform the businesses “Traditionally packaging in a brick-and- INNOVATING STUDENTS
in Arkansas and to deal with the chal- mortar environment is all about the These solutions seem ambitious to
lenges that are ahead of us,” Williams brand building. Packaging in a dot-com entrust to students, but Johnson says
continued. environment is all about protection. the students have an advantage to inno-
You’ve already had the moment of truth 

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 6 2017 41