Hyster-Yale Group Provides Students with Real-World AI Experience

Representatives from Hyster-Yale Group joined Northwestern faculty from the Kellogg School of Management and Segal Institute for Design Innovation and innovation industry leaders like IDEO, PwC and IA Collaborative to facilitate the 2024 Kellogg Design Challenge, the largest business design case competition across MBA programs globally. As the platinum sponsor, Hyster-Yale provided the theme for this year’s competition, AI x Design, which emphasizes the use of artificial intelligence to enhance the design and development process of new products, potentially reducing the time and effort involved by up to 50 percent.

Approximately 90 graduate students from Northwestern, Parsons, Carnegie Mellon, University of Chicago, Imperial College London, Cornell, UCLA and Dartmouth competed in the multi-stage event. Throughout the month of April, the competition included a Q&A with Hyster-Yale innovation representatives, workshops with innovation partners and the main Kellogg Design Challenge Day, featuring presentations from all competitors, speaker sessions and networking opportunities.

Students from Cornell University Johnson School of Business won first place for their exceptional “EZ Requirement Assistant,” showcasing a deep understanding of user needs and innovative problem-solving, while also demonstrating the potential for real time and cost savings. In addition to awarding cash prizes to the first, second and third place teams, this year’s edition included a bonus prize for the most human-centric and inclusive design, which was awarded to students from Northwestern Kellogg. Members of the Hyster-Yale innovation team, together with the other competition judges, evaluated the semi-finalists on their design research, solution design, business impact and innovation pitch.

The Hyster-Yale innovation team focuses on developing advanced technologies for materials handling operations and accelerating the adoption of these technologies in commercial applications. Between the Yale^® and Hyster^® lift truck brands, the company’s deployed emerging technology base includes over 500 automated lift truck units and more than 6,000 lift trucks with the company’s patented operator assistance technology.

For more information, visit https://www.hyster-yale.com.