Highlights
- Georgia Tech students have created a notification system that will allow NCM to get food items at cheaper costs.
- The students optimized NCM’s warehouse to create more space.
- The new online point system that has been introduced will let NCM’s clients to be served with fresher foods.
The Norcross nonprofit NCM now has a new way to manage food distribution, thanks to a group of Georgia Tech Students. The new system will change the way they manage food distribution in Gwinnett County. A total of 8 students from the University worked on the project. They came up with the innovative solutions as part of their Capstone project for graduation from the University.
The new systems will allow NCM to serve an additional 566 approximately every month, which will double the number of people below the poverty line that were served so far.
The 8 students of the “Cooperative heart and Carts” group that worked on the project were Aaron Smith, Garrett Joyce, Grant Lieppe, Jackie Olsen, Julia Flake, Noah Law, Spring Rawl and Zoe Song. The solutions that they provide NCM include an inventory management system, a warehouse redesign, and a supplier notification system.
Problems that NCM Was Facing and The Need for Solutions
NCM has been tight on resources with the increasing need for food in Gwinnett County. Ryan Jones, executive director of NCM, said that last year they were able to serve 27,000 individuals and next year they’ll be serving 6,000 more. Moreover, getting certain food items from the Atlanta Community Food Bank can be competitive, which forces NCM to often depend on more expensive store-bought food. Jones said that as the demand has been rising, they had to come up with novel and creative ideas to solve expensive problems.
On hearing about the Georgia Tech capstone project, NCM realized that it could help solve the issue that their food program was facing. As the staff and management at NCM didn’t have the time or sometimes the skill sets that are required, the students were called in to help them optimize and improve the systems in place.
The Innovative Solution By the Georgia Tech Capstone Project Group
The first thing that the Georgia Tech Capstone Project Group came up with as a solution to NCM’s logistical issues was a notification system. This system would alert the staff via notifications on their phones when the Atlanta Food Bank has items they need in stock. The staff will then have to quickly log on and add those items to the cart. This way, they’ll be able to buy greater pallets of food at a much cheaper rate than at retail.
The students were also able to do an analysis of NCM’s warehouse. Based on it, they redesigned the warehouse to make it a lot more space-efficient. As it is now optimized, the warehouse will have increased its pallet spaces from33 to 56. This will allow the storage of more pallets coming from the Food Bank.
As per the calculations by the students, the changes will allow NCM to serve around 566 additional clients every month. NCM will now be able to serve almost double the number of people below the poverty line they have been able to serve so far. Now that they have the space, NCM will be able to take in more food and say yes to more donations, Jones said.
The students also proposed a new online point system for NCM’s clients. This new system will allow clients to get fresher food more often. So far, the clients would only visit the pantry once a month.
Julia Flake is one of the 8 Georgia tech students of the “Industrial and Systems Engineering” program who worked on the project. She said that smaller nonprofit organizations in the Atlanta area do not usually get access to Georgia Tech’s resources or being able to work with its students. The students have used their skills acquired from their time at University to engineer a solution for a problem in the real world. Doing so, they made a true impact. Flake said that they were able to help real people in their community. Through this project they can make a positive impact and implement something that can truly make a difference.
The solutions the students invented have saved NCM a ton of money and time. The non-profit will now be able to distribute much more food for a much cheaper cost, all thanks to the students. Jones said that he hoped the way students were able to use their engineering skills to help them out will show other nonprofits how people with any skill set can help them.
