By Luke Gilmore
Business Management Professor, Bill Ritchie, hosted his Supply Chain Management class at MAAP. His students are conducting a project that is associated with MAAP. The purpose of the project is to provide students with the opportunity to gain a comprehensive understanding of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions by deploying various apps for a MAAP Client. The students have to cover factors such as inventory documentation, the restoration process, donors, funding, and more. The students will be presenting their projects to Cole Scrogham (Executive Director of MAAP) on December 5th. Here is what the students had to say when they came to the shop:
Student 1:
The most interesting aspect of meeting with Cole was his history and the history of the MAAP program. I had no idea that it even was a program, and since meeting them I wish I had known earlier, it sounds like a great program that I would’ve loved to join earlier. I already recommended the program to a sophomore on the water polo team who is an engineering major and has started looking for job opportunities. For the actual project, I’m excited to see how my group can utilize Odoo to give MAAP extra benefits outside of the explicit benefits listed in the project outline. I’m hoping that our presentation for Odoo goes well and he is impressed with what we bring to the table.
Student 2:
I didn’t even know what MAAP was before this, so it was interesting learning about this business and its connection with JMU. I also thought it was cool to hear about the process of remodeling the cars that they get, as well as the process of auctioning them off after or taking them to shows to win awards/get recognition.
Student 3:
The most interesting aspect of the meeting at MAAP for me was that the group is very professional and does extremely high quality of work despite the work is being done by college interns. The fact that Cole and MAAP is able to win awards and be able to have people quit or exit competitions just because of their reputation and caliber of work is very impressive. Additionally, to me the quality of the cars that they work on and the rare aspect of the vehicles they have was impressive to see.
Student 4:
One of the most interesting parts of the visit with Cole at MAAP was hearing about how he conducts his business and the work he does with his interns. It was cool to hear his background at JMU and how he is still involved with the community today. I also enjoyed when the intern showed us his 3-D printed device and how he was going to make it better by using the Blender software. Overall, great visit and I have a clearer understanding of the project goals.
Student 5:
I felt that the most interesting aspect of the visit with Cole at MAAP was being able to see how digital thread was being integrated into the business. The 3D printing of the car part and being able to save the dimensions on a file is a great example of how I feel the digital thread will be used in our future. I thought it was great to see some early applications of this being done at MAAP.
Student 6:
It was really interesting hearing about Cole’s long-term experience in the automotive restoration industry and how passionate he is about his work. I was especially intrigued when he mentioned that he keeps track of everything in his head because he’s been doing it for so long—it’s impressive how organized and skilled he is from working in the industry for so long. I was also especially shocked when I walked in and saw all the incredible cars he’s restoring—it’s so cool how he works on such high-end automotive restoration projects.