Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of profiles of the Wisconsin Idea in action.
Raj Veeramani: Getting down to e-Business in Wisconsin
When he joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1992, Raj Veeramani, an industrial and systems engineering professor, went on a statewide bus tour for new faculty.
His interactions with state residents — from students at inner-city Milwaukee schools to rural dairy farmers and members of the Oneida Nation — made a deep impression that continues to guide his activities as a professor.
“What struck me was the genuine and high level of respect that people have for the UW System,” says Veeramani. But with that respect came expectations. “People believe there is a role for the university in the state and they view UW as an important component of the fabric of Wisconsin,” he says.
Veeramani meets that expectation by responding to the needs of Wisconsin industry. He directs the University of Wisconsin E-Business Consortium (UWEBC), a university-industry initiative that offers its 70 member companies opportunities to share, explore and learn best practices in e-business. The goal of the consortium is to help Wisconsin industry gain a competitive advantage in the global economy through effective use of e-business strategies, technologies and practices.
Raj Veeramani, director of UW–Madison’s e-Business Institute and e-Business Consortium, makes opening remarks as host of an e-Business Best Practices and Emerging Technologies Conference held Oct. 24 at the Monona Terrace Convention and Community Center.
Photo: Jeff Miller
He also directs the University of Wisconsin E-Business Institute, founded to complement the collaborative learning at the UWEBC through research and outreach that enhance Wisconsin industry as a whole.
“The way we view success is different from in the corporate world,” says Veeramani. “Instead of profit, we focus on impact — be it through research, education or outreach.”
For Veeramani, who has dual appointments in engineering and business, his involvement in e-business progressed naturally from his background in manufacturing and product design. He explored manufacturing at the product and process levels during his undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and at the systems level during his graduate studies at Purdue University, where he received his Ph.D. in industrial engineering in 1991.
The quality of the engineering school and its hands-on approach to manufacturing education drew Veeramani to UW–Madison during his job search. His introduction to the Wisconsin Idea confirmed that decision. The philosophy that the university’s influence and expertise should extend to the borders of the state and beyond resonated with Veeramani, whose background emphasized practical application of academic research.
He witnessed the Wisconsin Idea in action while working with Professor Rajan Suri in establishing the Center for Quick-Response Manufacturing (QRM). While working with Suri, Veeramani saw how the university forms and maintains successful industry partnerships. “My active involvement in the early years of the QRM center instilled in me a deep appreciation for the value that university-industry partnerships can offer the state,” he says.
— Raj Veeramani“I have gone around the state to companies like J.J. Keller & Associates in Neenah, or Doctors Foster & Smith up in Rhinelander, and Mason Shoe Company in Chippewa Falls. We are being received with open arms, and we relish the opportunity to work with them. This really reinforces that we have both the ability and the responsibility to fulfill the Wisconsin Idea.”
Gradually, Veeramani’s interests evolved beyond product-level and factory-level issues. “As time went on and I collaborated more with industry, I came to realize that the issues companies face often transcend the product or process, and are really more about business-level and supply-chain issues,” says Veeramani.
Those business-level issues changed with the advent of e-business in the 1990s. In the spring of 1998, Veeramani and his colleagues in both business and engineering began to explore opportunities for university-industry collaboration in the new realm of e-business.
Aware that the Internet would transform business, industry leaders suggested that the university was uniquely positioned to offer a holistic perspective on the rapidly changing face of e-business, and to provide a trusted, non-commercial environment for collaboration with other businesses and with UW–Madison faculty. Thus, the UWEBC was forged, under Veeramani’s leadership.
The UWEBC has primarily focused on regionally based brick-and-mortar companies. “We realized that the bigger opportunities for impact really lay with existing businesses that are the core of Wisconsin,” says Veeramani. Many of the companies are national or global companies with local roots, such as Lands’ End and Rockwell Automation.
“We also decided not to focus on a particular industry sector, but to focus on the issues faced by industry,” says Veeramani. He says the diversity in membership this focus affords is one of the consortium’s strengths, because companies from different industry sectors can learn from each other in a non-competitive, collaborative environment.
For example, a clothing retailer and a telecommunications company may not appear to have much in common, but both encounter issues in information security, customer service and Web site usability.
One way the UWEBC helps address these issues is through peer groups. The UWEBC facilitates meetings of company employees in specific areas, such as information security, customer-relationship management, Web strategy, supply-chain management and radio-frequency identification (RFID). Nearly 50 peer group meetings take place annually.
When a company becomes a consortium member, it can send employees to any or all of the peer groups. Employees then take knowledge and solutions back to their companies. “Peer groups provide companies a unique mechanism to tap into the collective wisdom and experience of 70 member companies,” Veeramani says. He adds that many companies decide to implement new strategies based on feedback from peer groups, or decide not to pursue a course they had been considering.
Raj Veeramani talks with other conference participants during a break during the e-Business Best Practices and Emerging Technologies Conference.
Photo: Jeff Miller
“We take a very individualized approach to relationships with our members. We try hard to understand the specific needs of each member company so that we can serve them in the best possible way,” says Veeramani.
“I have gone around the state to companies like J.J. Keller & Associates in Neenah, or Doctors Foster & Smith up in Rhinelander, and Mason Shoe Company in Chippewa Falls. We are being received with open arms, and we relish the opportunity to work with them. This really reinforces that we have both the ability and the responsibility to fulfill the Wisconsin Idea.”
In addition to peer groups and best-practice reports, the UWEBC also sponsors a radio-frequency identification industry workgroup and a state-of-the-art RFID laboratory. RFID technology has strategic implications for several Wisconsin industries, including manufacturing, biotechnology, paper and printing, packaging and plastics. “Instead of each company creating their own lab, which they can’t justify, they asked us to create it on behalf of industry as a whole,” says Veeramani.
Although his various activities keep him busy, Veeramani relishes his interactions with individual companies. “I enjoy talking with them to understand and learn about the issues that they are facing,” he says. “My other favorite times are when we learn we have actually helped make a difference, even if it’s modest. Those are the types of things that make our day.”
Rivaling his enthusiasm about improving industry in Wisconsin is Veeramani’s quickness to point out the many who contribute to the UWEBC’s success.
“There is a large number of students and staff involved in this effort,” he says. “What needs to be applauded here is not the person, but the model. It’s truly a collaborative effort, with the university and all the industry members, and the power of good that can come from that.”
More information on the UWEBC can be found at http://www.uwebc.org.
Written by Liz Ahlberg on Nov. 15, 2006