Today was an interesting day as it was a mix of both business and culture in Argentina. In the morning we traveled to Andromaco, a pharmaceutical and cosmetic company. After that we went to San Telemo, which is one of the oldest regions in Argentina, to eat lunch and walk around for a little bit. Following that was a trip to ESMA, which is a memorial museum. Once we got back to the apartments I had to go back out to explore Recoleta and do some shopping!
Although I’m not a supply chain major and the company related a lot to the supply process, I really enjoyed our visit to Andromaco. It was interesting to be able to tour the production facility and witness firsthand how the producing and packaging of products are done. Our tour guide spoke to us about some of the challenges facing both their company and the industry and general and to me the unstableness of the economy seems to be the largest issue. Because the value of an Argentine fluctuates so much, it is hard for all industries but specifically pharmaceuticals and mass producers like Andromaco to make a consistent profit. Another problem that seems to affect the industry is following regulations and guidelines by the Argentina FDA. Even private companies have to make sure that they get new products approved before beginning production. Andromaco goes through a two-week period every year where they are heavily audited and inspected. Other than small issues such as the lift for products not working or someone not changing the sign from in use to dirty there weren’t major problems that were really demonstrated to us that Andromaco specifically faces but more general issues that the entire industry has to deal with. One thing noted is that this private company doesn’t distribute to hospitals, but there are less quality and less pure products being sold to public hospitals.
In the museum I learned about how many people “disappeared” during the dictatorship in Argentina and also the mass killing of pregnant woman to stop the growing rate of the population. It was very sad to read about and see some of the pictures and stories around the memorial, but I am glad that I feel more informed after.