MADISON – When he joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1992, industrial and
systems engineering Professor Raj Veeramani went on a statewide bus tour for new
faculty. His interactions with state residents – from students at inner-city
Milwaukee schools to rural dairy farmers and members of the Oneida nation – made a
deep impression that continues to guide his activities as a professor.
“What struck me was the genuine and high level of respect that people have for the
UW System,” says Veeramani. But with that respect came expectations. “People believe
there is a role for the university in the state and they view UW as an important
component of the fabric of Wisconsin,” he says.
Veeramani meets that expectation by responding to the needs of Wisconsin industry.
He directs the UW e-Business Consortium (UWEBC), a university-industry initiative
that offers its 70 member companies opportunities to share, explore and learn best
practices in e-business. The goal of the consortium is to help Wisconsin industry
gain a competitive advantage in the global economy through effective use of
e-business strategies, technologies and practices.
He also directs the UW e-Business Institute, founded to complement the collaborative
learning at the UWEBC through research and outreach that enhance Wisconsin industry
as a whole.
“The way we view success is different from in the corporate world,” says Veeramani.
“Instead of profit, we focus on impact, be it through research, education or
outreach.”
For Veeramani, who has dual appointments in engineering and business, his
involvement in e-business progressed naturally from his background in manufacturing
and product design. He explored manufacturing at the product and process levels
during his undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering at the Indian Institute
of Technology, Madras, and at the systems level during his graduate studies at
Purdue University, where he received his Ph.D. in industrial engineering in 1991.
The quality of the engineering school and its hands-on approach to manufacturing
education drew Veeramani to UW-Madison during his job search. His introduction to
the Wisconsin Idea confirmed that decision. The philosophy that the university’s
influence and expertise should extend to the borders of the state and beyond
resonated with Veeramani, whose background emphasized practical application of
academic research.
He witnessed the Wisconsin Idea in action while working with Professor Rajan Suri in
establishing the Center for Quick-Response Manufacturing (QRM). While working with
Suri, Veeramani saw how the university forms and maintains successful industry
partnerships. “My active involvement in the early years of the QRM center instilled
in me a deep appreciation for the value that university-industry partnerships can
offer the state,” he says.
Gradually, Veeramani’s interests evolved beyond product-level and factory-level
issues. “As time went on and I collaborated more with industry, I came to realize
that the issues companies face often transcend the product or process, and are
really more about business-level and supply-chain issues,” says Veeramani.
Those business-level issues changed with the advent of e-business in the 1990s. In
the spring of 1998, Veeramani and his colleagues in both business and engineering
began to explore opportunities for university-industry collaboration in the new
realm of e-business.
Aware that the Internet would transform business, industry leaders suggested that
the university was uniquely positioned to offer a holistic perspective on the
rapidly changing face of e-business, and to provide a trusted, noncommercial
environment for collaboration with other businesses and with UW-Madison faculty.
Thus, the UWEBC was forged, under Veeramani’s leadership.
The UWEBC has primarily focused on regionally based brick-and-mortar companies. “We
realized that the bigger opportunities for impact really lay with existing
businesses that are the core of Wisconsin,” says Veeramani. Many of the companies
are national or global companies with local roots, such as Lands’ End and Rockwell
Automation.
“We also decided not to focus on a particular industry sector, but to focus on the
issues faced by industry,” says Veeramani. He says the diversity in membership this
focus affords is one of the consortium’s strengths, because companies from different
industry sectors can learn from each other in a noncompetitive, collaborative
environment.
For example, a clothing retailer and a telecommunications company may not appear to
have much in common, but both encounter issues in information security, customer
service and Web site useability.
One way the UWEBC helps address these issues is through peer groups. The UWEBC
facilitates meetings of company employees in specific areas, such as information
security, customer relationship management, Web strategy, supply-chain management
and radio-frequency identification (RFID). Nearly 50 peer-group meetings take place
annually.
When a company becomes a consortium member, it can send employees to any or all of
the peer groups. Employees then take knowledge and solutions back to their
companies. “Peer groups provide companies a unique mechanism to tap into the
collective wisdom and experience of 70 member companies,” Veeramani says. He adds
that many companies decide to implement new strategies based on feedback from peer
groups, or decide not to pursue a course they had been considering.
“We take a very individualized approach to relationships with our members. We try
hard to understand the specific needs of each member company so that we can serve
them in the best possible way,” says Veeramani.
“I have gone around the state to companies, like J.J. Keller and Associates in
Neenah, or Doctors Foster and Smith up in Rhinelander, and Mason Shoe Co. in
Chippewa Falls. We are being received with open arms, and we relish the opportunity
to work with them. This really reinforces that we have both the ability and the
responsibility to fulfill the Wisconsin Idea.”
In addition to peer groups and best practice reports, the UWEBC also sponsors a RFID
industry workgroup and a state-of-the-art RFID laboratory. RFID technology has
strategic implications for several Wisconsin industries, including manufacturing,
biotechnology, paper and printing, packaging and plastics. “Instead of each company
creating their own lab, which they can’t justify, they asked us to create it on
behalf of industry as a whole,” says Veeramani.
Although his various activities keep him busy, Veeramani relishes his interactions
with individual companies. “I enjoy talking with them to understand and learn about
the issues that they are facing,” he says. “My other favorite times are when we
learn we have actually helped make a difference, even if it’s modest. Those are the
types of things that make our day.”
Rivaling his enthusiasm about improving industry in Wisconsin is Veeramani’s
quickness to point out the many who contribute to the UWEBC’s success.
“There is a large number of students and staff involved in this effort,” he says.
“What needs to be applauded here is not the person, but the model. It’s truly a
collaborative effort, with the university and all the industry members, and the
power of good that can come from that.”
More information on the UWEBC can be found at http://www.uwebc.org.
