The 2009 Challenge
Engineering students, do you think you can lower Vestas' production costs? You are tasked with one of the key intellectual and practical challenges of our business: how to drop the cost of providing wind energy so more of the world adopts it.
Which production theories and concepts should Vestas apply to reduce our production costs? Utilizing economies of scale (limited platform, modularity), creative sourcing (economy of scale), and smart production solutions (process improvement, localization) we want you to recommend improvements in our production that could lead to reduced production costs per produced unit.
Business students your challenge is business case certainty. We are putting you to work in creating even greater demand of wind energy. We want you to help ensure that Vestas' customers achieve their forecasted business objectives through wind energy. Utilizing public or private options, come up with a strategy to drive additional demand for wind energy by lowering one of the costs - financing. Create a presentation which outlines a sales strategy and tactics to drive great investment. Your ideas could impact our clients around the globe and a large percentage of the world’s wind energy market.
Go to the rules section for complete details regarding your presentation and the event.
Rules
1. All teams must register for the challenge by emailing winnovation@universumusa.com by Monday October 19, 2009. Registration information should include:
- Team member names
- Current University of College
- Graduation date
- Current area of study
2. Each team must submit a PowerPoint document not to exceed 10 slides in length. You can include video as part of your presentation.
3. Each team member must submit a personal statement in pdf format no longer than 200 words in length, describing what motivated him or her to participate. There should be one cover page with each team member's name, college or university, graduation date, e-mail, mailing addresses, and phone number. The cover page will not count against the 200 word limit.
4. Each submission should include a resume/cv for each team member in pdf format
5. Submissions are due by 12:00AM US eastern standard time on Thursday, October 29, 2009.
6. Each student competing must be a current full-time or part-time student in an accredited master's programme, pursuing a master's degree in engineering or business.
7. Teams are limited to a maximum of 2 students.
8. Not all team members need to be from the same college or university.
9. Finalists must have a legal visa to travel to Aarhus, Denmark for the final event.
10. Presentations received after the specified due date will not be reviewed.
11. Submissions will be judged based on numerous factors including quality and innovation.
12. Should you be selected, you must be available to travel to Aarhus, Denmark and attend the final presentation. All of your travel expenses will be paid, of course. We just want to make sure you are planning to be in the finals and can present to the judges including the President of Technology R&D in Vestas.
In selecting the finalists, students will be judged based on the quality of the submissions. Vestas reserves the right to make all final decisions.
All students that are chosen for the finals may be given directions for additional information that will need to be included in their presentation during the final event.