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 I’ve always thought of Lego sets as boys’ playthings.
Naturally, when the School of Engineering announced
its intention to organize the first Logistics Design
Competition, co-sponsored by SembCorp Logistics and
Lego Pte Ltd, my response was – ‘for
boys by boys’. If you wonder why, look at the
the 3 categories of competitions. First, there is
the Distribution Game which requires contestants
to balance the requirements of their customers and
the need to keep inventory levels manageable. Next,
there is Warehouse Design which requires that a given
Lego set be arranged according to given specifications.
Finally, there is Container Optimisation which is
all about stuffing as much as you can into a given
box. If you include the fact that our facilitators
who designed the games are predominantly male, it’s
easy to see why one thinks it’s for the boys
and by the boys.
 We invited our current students’ former secondary
schools in the spirit of family togetherness. A total
of 17 schools responded with at least one team of
5 students. All in all, we had 22 teams, including
a fairly last-minute one comprising several enthusiastic
teachers who accompanied the school team. It was
an excellent opportunity for our students to keep
in touch with their former teachers and juniors.
Through activities such as these, we will in no time
bond very closely with both staff and students from
schools in our neighbourhood, both here in Tanglin
and our new campus in Woodlands. We would like to
thank all our participating teams for their wonderful
support.
What happened that day was basically memorable for
two reasons; the first being the instantaneous rapport
of our Student Ambassadors with all their younger
guests. From the morning’s warm reception,
the initial hesitant efforts to strike up a conversation,
to the total absorption in the tournament’s
different categories and the evening’s camaraderie,
it was evident that long after the photographs have
faded, the recollection of friendships made that
day will remain. Indeed, the Director of the School
of Engineering, Mr Fong Yew Chan, commented on how
fast our Student Ambassadors established rapport
through guiding our young guests during the course
of the competition.
 The second reason has to do with the presence of
girls. To my surprise, a fair number of teams had
girls, some were in fact entirely girl-power teams.
More surprising was the speed and the level of purposefulness
they demonstrated. Teamwork was abundantly evident.
It was no wonder that the winning teams consisted
of many girls. To see this for yourself, please take
a look at our photographs of the winners.
Finally, to all the schools which participated in
our first Logistics Design Competition, while not
all that came ‘conquered’ what you had
set out to, we look forward to seeing you all again
next year. Best of luck for the rest of the year
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