Today was an interesting day. We started our day at a pharmaceutical factory for a company called Andromaco. As a possible future Supply Chain major, seeing the different parts of the factory from raw material to ready for shipment. In the beginning, they made us put on covers over our clothes, hair, and shoes. Needless to say, we had a blast taking pictures in our “scrubs.” We received a tour of the whole factory and learned about Andromaco as a company that mainly produces creams. It was cool to see the different types of equipment throughout the factory and learn about how each area works together to make the final packaged product. Overall, Andromaco faces many challenges as a pharmaceutical company in Argentina. First off, they are heavily audited once every two years for a two-week time period. During this period, every stage of their production process is extremely regulated to ensure all safety protocols and regulations are being met. Additionally, they have to keep most of their products in country rather than exporting it because most of their products don’t reach international standard or protocols. With regards to general pharmaceutical companies in Argentina, inflation is a major factor affecting the production process. Since many technologies can’t be found in Argentina, they must import them from other countries. With the Argentinian Peso being a very inflated form of currency, this becomes an issue when it comes to buying expensive machinery.
After our factory tour, we went to lunch at a barbecue restaurant. There, I enjoyed the famous Argentinian “asado” which is a type of ribs. It was a very good lunch to say the least. After that, we walked around the neighborhood of San Telmo for a while into cool Argentinian flee markets and stores. Then, we took a trip to the ESMA museum. There, I learned about how the area was once used to suppress people who were rivaling the dictatorships. This caused many people of a whole generation to be killed which led to their children being placed with “las abuelas” or the grandmothers. Many were placed with people they weren’t actually related to and grew up their whole lives not knowing that they were living with a different family. The history behind it was very sad but interesting to learn about especially when discussing how many were reunited with blood relatives later on in life. After that, we came back and were off for the rest of the day. However, Allie and I decided to go to the National Library of Argentina with Grant and Brad. The library was a very cool building but we hit a few road bumps when it came to touring the inside regarding our visit. Let’s just say we spent way more time in the library than planned with regards to their security. Overall, I really enjoyed the activities of the day and it had a strong ending.
Highlight of the Day: Our “tour” of the library 😊
