Grocery logistics challenge takes Mexican women to MIT

Two female students from Tecnológico de Monterrey’s San Luis Potosí campus have participated in the MIT LIFT Lab in the United States. 

Fifth-semester Mechatronics Engineering student Valentina Acosta and Industrial and Systems Engineering student Sofía Moreno faced logistics challenges via simulations and intensive classes that allowed them to dive into the search for solutions for family businesses in the country.  

“Yes, it was a complete experience, from the tasks we had to carry out beforehand to the classes, which were very intensive, as well as being with professors from the best university in the world. It was incredible,” said Sofia. 

The project that gave them a pass to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) workshop was carried out with their classmate Miguel Alexis Gómez.  

Their goal was to solve logistics challenges focused on analyzing the economic factors and patterns that determine the survival of grocery stores. 

Given this limitation, the students decided to complement the information with their own database.   

“We added the geographical location as a variable and prepared a map with every store interviewed to analyze the correlation with convenience stores,” said Valentina Acosta. 

The team complemented the analysis by interviewing the owners of the grocery stores with questions about the number of workers and monthly sales. 

These answers served to evaluate the performance of the establishments for later comparison with their main variable, geographical location.   

Although the new database was useful for evaluating and generating good analyses, it involved the risk of the results being subjective because they were based on perception and not on data or store records.    

The MIT Low-Income Firms Transformation Lab is a research initiative by the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, which aims to foster economic growth in developing countries by strengthening their supply chain management.  

Over two days, the students received master classes from MIT experts focused on enhancing their skills and knowledge of supply chains, programming, business, and sustainability.  

“What I liked the most is that everyone is very passionate about what they do and has a lot of hope for the future,” Valentina said. 

Subsequently, they solved a logistics challenge prepared by professors from the university, which consisted of managing companies functioning as a supply chain, with the aim of maximizing profits and creating a good business strategy. 

team with students from different degree programs and semesters. 

The students stressed that the greatest challenge at this stage was time and coordinating with their international teams.   

“They gave us three or four hours and told us, ‘You have to finish everything.’ We didn’t know each other. We had nothing in common. We had never even spoken. We didn’t know what degree program they were coming from, or where to start. Yes, it was super intense,” added Acosta. 

Although they were faced with technical and communication problems between teams, Moreno describes this opportunity as: “An experience that challenged us at a completely different level.”  

If continued and scaled up to state level, the project has the potential to transform the local and family economy by offering strategic decision-making tools. 

“If we contribute to their livelihood or the decision that means these people can be successful, we’ll be contributing to the local economy and that of those families,” Sofia added. 

On the personal impact of the experience, they shared the importance of curiosity in the STEM field. 

“Anything you can do, no matter how difficult it is for you, can get you results with time and dedication,” Valentina concluded.