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Amazon Sort Center Project 1
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Currently, Amazon is facing higher-than-target waste load percentages at one of its sort centers, leading to elevated quarterly costs. To address this, Amazon aims to enhance outbound load efficiency by analyzing waste-related metrics and implementing sustainable process improvements.
Through this project, the Tauber team will identify root causes, design scalable solutions, and support change management initiatives to help the sort center meet its target waste load levels. The project integrates strategic analysis with hands-on operational execution to deliver measurable, lasting impact.
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Amazon Sort Center Project 2
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Amazon Operations has partnered with the Tauber Institute for Global Operations to improve efficiency within the inbound and wrapdown processes. This project will pinpoint wastes, propose standard staffing models, and manage change to deliver cost savings and improved process quality.
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| American Industrial Partners - AgCo |
The Tauber team is collaborating with AIP-Grain & Protein Technologies to enhance Ship Complete on Time (SCOT) performance and labor productivity at the A68 Mixed Flow production facility. Through process evaluations, time studies, and root cause analyses, the team will identify inefficiencies and implement floor-level improvements to optimize operations in a live manufacturing environment. |
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American Industrial Partners - Enviva BioMass
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The Tauber team is partnering with American Industrial Partners (AIP) and Enviva Biomass, the world’s largest wood pellet manufacturer. Wood pellets are a sustainable biofuel used in retrofitted coal power plants, aiding the switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Enviva’s operations depend heavily on dewatering incoming wood to produce high-quality pellets. This Tauber project focuses on developing a fiber mix optimization tool that helps identify and prioritize the factors most critical to efficient dewatering across Enviva’s facilities. |
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Boeing
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This project aims to improve production flow and quality at a Boeing Fuselage Assembly Center. By analyzing current inefficiencies, engaging frontline stakeholders, and piloting scalable solutions, the team will help support higher production capacity targets. The effort focuses on enhancing operational performance to meet future delivery goals. |
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Conagra Brands
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The Tauber team is partnering with Conagra’s Vlasic plant in Imlay City, Michigan, to drive improvements in yield, automation, and energy efficiency. The project addresses a $1.2 million FY24 yield loss opportunity by building a real-time dashboard to track hand-packed jar weights. Additionally, the team will create and validate a proof-of-concept for automated pickle packing and leverage energy metering to track usage patterns and uncover $350k in potential savings. |
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Emerson: Material Movement & Warehouse Transformation
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Emerson’s Stafford facility faces challenges in its warehousing process due to a legacy system reliant on paper tags and outdated inventory tracking. These bottlenecks contribute to material waste, increased costs, and delayed production. The Tauber team will develop a streamlined material movement strategy leveraging barcode technology, optimized storage layouts, and real-time inventory visualization to enhance operational efficiency and reduce costs.
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Emerson: Sustainable Supply Chain & Emerson Road to Net Zero
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Since 2021, Emerson has achieved a 44% absolute reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Beyond Scope 1 and 2, Emerson has also committed to a 25% reduction in Scope 3 emissions by 2030, with the ultimate goal of a 90% reduction across all scopes by 2045. To support this initiative, Emerson has partnered with the Tauber Institute for Global Operations to better understand how Emerson’s Scope 3 targets and their suppliers' sustainability performance align, by building a model and roadmap to highlight high-impact emissions reduction actions and opportunities. |
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Enact Systems
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Enact is partnering with a Tauber team to expand the value of its solar operations and maintenance platform for installers managing residential fleets. As mid-sized installers face growing post-installation service demands and limited tools for interpreting system performance, the team will explore how Enact can offer clearer insights and diagnostics for installers through stakeholder interviews, industry research, and data analysis. |
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Fark Labs
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As Fark Labs expands its efforts to accelerate the growth of second-stage companies in Michigan, the Tauber team has been tasked with developing a strategic framework to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The team will map key ecosystem players, evaluate opportunities for strategic partnerships between startups and established firms, and design a scalable support model tailored to the unique challenges faced by growth-stage ventures. This effort will include identifying gaps, benchmarking support mechanisms, and piloting solutions with select companies to drive long-term impact. |
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Kroma TiD
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KromaTiD is positioning its technology for broader adoption in the gene and cell therapy space. To support this growth, the Tauber team will assess strategic pricing models, identify operational opportunities for quality assurance, and provide insights to inform near-term business planning. The project will guide KromaTiD in aligning its commercial offerings, global market positioning, and operational standards with the needs of a rapidly evolving therapeutic landscape. |
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L'Oreal
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In support of L’Oréal for the Future sustainability commitments, the Tauber team will partner with L’Oréal North America Sourcing to support their supplier decarbonization strategy. The team will create a decarbonization benchmark, build and monitor a supplier maturity scale, and design an automated assessment tool to bring sustainability to the forefront of sourcing decisions. The team will leverage industry research, supplier communications and analyses, and assessment automation to provide actionable recommendations and tools to strengthen sustainable sourcing initiatives.
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Lear Corporation: Centralized Material Planning
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To enhance supply chain resilience and agility, which can directly impact material-related downtime, excess or insufficient inventory, premium freight costs, and other key financial metrics, Lear Corporation’s Electronics division is launching a phased initiative to improve inventory visibility and material release accuracy across its global plants. The Tauber team will conduct a pilot project to establish a formal, centralized release and inventory optimization process by leveraging enhanced business intelligence tools and/or Palantir Foundry. The project aims to streamline data collection and reporting through a unified dashboard, enabling timely, data-driven decisions that improve operational efficiency and support long-term scalability. |
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Lear Corporation: Manufacturing Asset Management
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With growing gaps between forecasted and actual customer demand, Lear Corporation’s E-Systems division is developing a scalable solution to standardize asset management and capacity planning across its global operations. The project will deliver a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in Palantir Foundry that integrates real-time machine data and historical performance to improve utilization, reduce idle capacity, and guide smarter investment decisions. By capturing best practices across regions, the solution will help Lear enhance operational resilience and responsiveness to shifting customer demand. |
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Mayo Clinic (with Boone Health)
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Tauber students will collaborate with Mayo Clinic’s Inspirity Health Partners and Boone Health to optimize pharmaceutical supply chain operations. The project will focus on addressing drug shortages and improving sourcing, inventory, and operational efficiency through data-driven insights and an integrated operating model. |
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Michigan Medicine
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Michigan Medicine (MM), the academic medical center of the University of Michigan, operates three high‑volume loading docks that handle more than 5,000 tons of regulated and non‑regulated waste annually. The primary objectives of this project are to map every waste stream from the units to the docks, centralize contract and spend data, and develop consolidation strategies that optimize cost, reliability, efficiency, and resilience within logistical and space constraints. |
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National Center for Manufacturing Sciences
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The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) aims to create a framework that assists in the adoption of AI among small to mid-sized U.S. manufacturers. By addressing adoption bottlenecks, providing tailored roadmaps, and leveraging digital tools, the project empowers manufacturers to integrate AI effectively and sustain digital transformation. |
| Navitas Systems |
Navitas Battery Systems is a leading manufacturer of custom lithium-ion battery cells, modules, and packs for electric mobility and energy storage for both commercial and government & defense applications. The Tauber team is focused on reducing scrap rates in the assembly process by analyzing key manufacturing data, identifying root causes of waste, and implementing targeted process improvements. This initiative aims to boost yield, improve quality assurance, and enhance overall operational efficiency in high-voltage battery production. |
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Nestle Purina Petcare
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The Nestlé Purina team will build a real-time data dashboard to increase visibility and accountability across factory maintenance operations. By integrating Spot robot anomaly detection data, the team will deliver actionable insights for stakeholders ranging from factory managers to senior leadership. |
| Pfizer, Inc. |
With increasing demand on its Drug Product Manufacturing operations, Pfizer has engaged the 2025 Tauber team to conduct a comprehensive analysis of five key manufacturing processes at its Groton, CT R&D facility. The team will identify process inefficiencies, implement Lean-driven improvements, and develop real-time performance dashboards to support operational efficiency, reduced cycle times, and scalable production capacity. |
| Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. |
To support Stanley Black & Decker’s operations transformation, the Tauber team is optimizing raw material flow across metals and plastics manufacturing, as well as third-party logistics. The project focuses on reducing downtime, improving inventory visibility, and delivering over $800K in value through lean-driven process improvements. |
| Target |
The Target Team will work on a project to improve product flow on both the manual and cart lines within the outbound depalletization process in Target’s Regional Distribution Centers (RDCs). The ultimate goal is to reduce line stoppages by a minimum of 25% by identifying areas of opportunity and solutions that can be tested and implemented across the entire RDC network. |