Today we rounded out the last of our business meetings by visiting PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), one of the Big Four accounting firms in the world. The main focus, as with all of our meetings was the optimization of the supply chain. One of the most prominent points emphasized was making steps of the supply chain digital/autonomous. We learned that this is already being pioneered, and the industries doing it best are the automotive, semiconductor, and retail. The goal is autonomous connections between the main four parts of the supply chain: the supplier, manufacturer, distributor, and customer. Today, this connection is mostly used for transparency reasons, which builds trust and eliminates risk for all parties involved. With all segments of the digital supply chain being dynamic, this also increases flexibility to meet customer needs. The examples of where artificial intelligence can improve efficiency of the supply chain were clear from the beginning. However, this presentation was definitely the most information-dense I have attended so far, and included some terms I was not familiar with before, such as end-to-end planning. I feel that I would have gotten more out of the presentation if they would have defined more of these terms that were essential for following some of the examples.

We also heard from what I believe were affiliates of PwC, such as Super Home Center, a home improvement and DIY store in Cyprus. They reiterated a lot of the ways artificial intelligence was helping them prioritize the customer experience, such as transparency and customer service via their website. I also found it interesting that they were one of the companies that may have benefited from the COVID lockdown, as many people took on home improvement and DIY activities when they were filling their time at home.

We also had the opportunity to visit stations with different concepts related to the supply chain, the most notable for me being the presentation about a circular economy. I learned that the concept of a circular economy is to make products with the intention of reuse, unlike our current, liner economy in which products are generally made to be used and then discarded. There was an example of a company that is working on a method of convenient, reusable packaging that can be delivered to consumers’ doors and rival the price of the disposable versions. There was also a company that relocates returned items locally, to save the resources necessary for complete return and reshipment. In our freshman engineering courses first semester, my class was challenged to create a way to reduce single-use disposable waste at Pitt, and I thought this presentation was a great tie in. I believe this is also why I found these efforts to be so interesting. There are, however, many obstacles to overcome within the supply chain to make these companies mainstream enough to make a significant difference.

We ended our day with our farewell dinner and a night-walk through Nicosia. I am excited for a relaxing day tomorrow!