By Earl Kline

During the current 2017-2018 academic year, 18 new students (Figure 1) joined the team. Nearly a third of the students come from a variety of disciplines such as building construction and industrial design. This year’s WEI team begins a new business around a product based on the advice of the previous year’s team: “keep it simple.” Based on this advice, a business plan was developed to make and sell beer flights (Figure 2) to address the needs of restaurants and craft beer breweries that offer beer tastings to their customers. This product is simple and easy to manufacture but it has been specially designed to help our target market. The market in the past has always been to Virginia Tech Alumni, family and friends. However, this year’s challenge was to go beyond our familiar market and to diversify by offering beer flight solutions to restaurants and breweries. Plans are to still market to Virginia Tech alumni and friends, but the main focus is to diversify into new markets to learn what new opportunities are available for subsequent WEI business cycles.

 

Figure 1. 2017-2018 WEI team (L-R): Sarah Blome, Emily Rutkowski, Brian Wernecke, Erin Lash, Austin Miles, Angela Rara, Sanford Shepard, Dakota DeLeonardis, Bradley Turner, Megan Krest, Ryan Longman, Justin Strawser, Kyle Reymann, Jackson Howard, Tommy Nguyen, Jacob Jin, Dylan Harris, and Jonathan Burger.

 

 

Figure 2. The 2017-18 Wood Enterprise Institute beer flight. By partnering with local restaurants, we have designed a product that makes serving beer samples not only aesthetically unique but also safer and easier for restaurant staff.

 

The plan is to make, sell and deliver over 250 units by the end of the spring semester. By December, one customer order for 50 units has already been fulfilled! This is another WEI first --- the team was not only production ready by December, they already began selling products the earliest of any team. Building on this momentum, the group is on target for a substantial return on investment for the new product. This year, the students have an opportunity to challenge themselves and learn new things that no other team has been able to do in the past. Examples of some project challenges include testing new marketing strategies, reducing the cost and environmental footprint of the product, integrating continuous improvement into business operations, and a more formalized system for professional growth and development. Results from these projects will set a new bar for next year’s team.

The Wood Enterprise Institute acknowledges and thanks the many generous donations and continuing support from our sponsors and friends. This support allows us to create a realistic business experience for the students in a safe and well-equipped environment that inspires creativity and entrepreneurship.