Students Visit Under Armour

           This upcoming winter, QUEST students will return to China once again to explore the world’s second largest economy and investigate how manufacturing, consulting, and design firms apply systems thinking and maintain product quality in their daily operations. During this trip, students and faculty will visit a diverse set of companies in Hong Kong and Guangzhou to learn about the cultural nuances of working in China.  This year students began their journey before they even departed the country. To start off this year’s QUEST2China trip, students had the opportunity to visit Under Armour headquarters in Baltimore and meet with Dee Dee Tsamoutalis (Q7), Director of Sourcing and Development.

          Dee Dee has spent much of her time over the last several years living in China and was able to share with QUEST students her experiences working in other countries.  Students learned about the design process in creating some of Under Armour’s innovative products. Dee Dee also elaborated on many of the manufacturing considerations when creating some of these products, which for many of the students including myself was not something we realized went into designing a product[JW1] . The visit concluded with a stop in the Under Armour store. Under Armour’s generosity was much appreciated by the QUEST community. The company visit left students even more eager and excited to begin the study abroad program and explore China!