UP students win international engineering tilt in Indonesia
Four UP students win an international industrial engineering competition held in Bandung, Indonesia from January 9 to 17. The team is composed of (from L-R) Dominic Aily Ecat, James Renier Domingo, Arizza Ann Nocum, coach Simon Lorenzo and Daniel Roi Agustin.
Four students from the University of the Philippines Diliman won first place at the 7th Industrial Engineering Competition (IECOM) in Bandung, Indonesia.
Daniel Roi Agustin, James Renier Domingo, Dominic Aily Ecat and Arizza Ann Nocum of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research of UP bested other industrial engineering and engineering management students from Southeast Asia in a competition held from January 9 to 17.
The team was guided by their coach, UP instructor Simon Lorenzo.
“It was an incredible opportunity to represent the university and the country, and we are so happy to bring honor to our department – especially the professors who have taught us so well,” shared Nocum.
The four graduating students were selected by their department to compete in IECOM. Fifteen out of 78 teams in Southeast Asia successfully hurdled the first selection stage, which was conducted online.
The UP team breezed through an intensive three-day semi-finals, which included a quiz bee, an amazing race and a simulation case challenge, culminating in a presentation before a board of judges composed of industrial engineering professionals.
The team of Agustin, Domingo, Ecat and Nocum joined the teams from Universitas Indonesia, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Chulalongkorn University and Universitas Gadjah Mada in the stage of the competition.
“We were given four days to study and solve the problems of two of the biggest Indonesian companies – Unilever Indonesia and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia. We visited their plants and were oriented on the main problems they face, then we were given two 12-hour work days to come up with a presentation outlining our solution for each company,” said Domingo, the team captain.
The UP team won the challenge, placing first, followed by Indonesian teams which took the second and third places.
“I think that one of the main drivers of our victory was our commitment to the solution. We told ourselves that the main reason we were doing this was not because we wanted to win but because we wanted to help these companies succeed by finding the solution that fit their needs and vision best,” Agustin said.
“We were taught the right tools, but ultimately what made us win was our ‘diskarte’ approach – our ability to think outside the box,” Ecat added.
The team won a $3,500 cash prize, which will be used to support UP’s industrial engineering students in future competitions.
IECOM was organized by Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), the oldest technology-oriented university in Indonesia. Prominent graduates of ITB include Sukarno, the first president of Indonesia.
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