University and Professional Teams Awarded in Torqata's 'Reinvent the Wheel' Hackathon

20 teams from across the world competed to develop sustainable solutions and win prizes

A group of data scientists from Michelin, named Team Bib, won Torqata’s “Reinvent the Wheel” Hackathon last Saturday. The Hackathon is a competition inviting some of the world’s brightest data science minds to converge and solve a difficult data challenge for the automotive aftermarket. This year, the problem focused on sustainability and minimizing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the recycling of millions of scrap tires collected in the United States every year.

The event – sponsored by American Tire Distributors (ATD), Google Cloud, and Continental, along with several other sponsors – attracted 21 teams consisting of more than 100 students and professionals on Nov. 11-12 at the American Tire Distributors headquarters in Huntersville. The teams had just 24 hours to tackle two challenges: forecasting inbound scrap tire supply and optimizing how these scrap tires get to the recycler while minimizing GHG.

Team Bib was awarded first-place, winning $3,000 and tires, by developing machine learning forecast models and sophisticated methods of optimization. The Huskies from Northeastern University won second place, earning $1,500, and the Database Avengers from University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) finished third, earning $500. After Team Bib made a surprise donation of their winnings to Team Huskies, a fourth award was created for Team 808’s and Snowflake, which consisted of professional and student members from multiple companies, including Snowflake, Bank of America, and UNCC.

“We want to congratulate everyone who participated in the ‘Reinvent the Wheel’ Hackathon for their innovative solutions to optimize the logistics efficiency of tire recycling,” said Torqata CEO Tim Eisenmann. “This event demonstrated how some of the best young data scientists and engineers from across the country can help the tire industry and automotive aftermarket solve critical issues affecting our environment. Approaches and solutions, such as the ones showcased this weekend, are required to help our industry join hands and move towards a more sustainable future.”

The challenge required skills in coding (R/Python), data visualization, data science, and basic programming knowledge. After 24 hours of coding, mini-challenges, and giveaways, each team presented their solution to a panel of judges. This was the second Reinvent the Wheel Hackathon following an inaugural event in 2019.

“We continue to invest heavily in data science, and this event provides a unique way for students and professionals to demonstrate how their technical skills can promote sustainability in our business,” said ATD President and CEO Stuart Schuette. “We are excited that so many talented students chose to participate in this event, and we hope they consider a career in our industry.”