Today, we visited both Medochemie and Columbia Shipping Company (CSM). Medochemie strives to provide customers around the globe with the cheapest and most well-produced drugs. Furthermore, Columbia Ship Management Company is the management of boats, people, and the shipping industry. Both companies began small and now are world leaders in each of their industries. Therefore, manifest destiny is the only fitting nickname for each of these companies.

Medochemie preaches quality assurance and good manufacturing processes throughout its business. Through this supply chain methods become integral. First, quality assurance covers all aspects that could have an impact on the drugs, this includes starting with the harvesting of raw materials and ending with the supplement to the customer. To ensure most of the practices were done correctly, blockchain methodology is used to record who interacts with the products. This way, quality assurance can be preserved, and good manufacturing practices can be achieved. Good manufacturing practice is important as the customer most often cannot tell if a drug is manufactured incorrectly. Failure in good manufacturing practices can have detrimental impacts on humanity. For example, in the 1930s the German Tuberculosis outbreak and in 1962 the Thalidomide tragedy both altered generations to come. Hence quality assurance and good manufacturing practices are both important to Medochemie.

Furthermore, Medochemie is extremely efficient with storage, having three storage systems located in the plant. The first allows for stacking mass amounts of the same product, the second is a computer-guided storage system, and the third is automated and can move with a press of a button. Each of these three systems has a different focus to maximize the supply chain impact of the product. The first storage system maximizes the storage of bulk quantities that need to be easily assessable. For example, this storage system holds hundreds of thousands of test tubes- something the company uses greatly and needs a large quantity of. By putting this product in the first supply system, its potential usage and efficiency can be optimized. The second storage system organizes all the material, based on computer mapping. This produces the fastest part of their supply chain, as the machinists can move products with finesse and precision. Finally, the last storage system reimagines the storage-to-space ratio. This system maximizes storage due to its ability to open and compress every aisle. This allows full access to your storage and uses minimal amounts of space. This was brilliant to me as this reimagines storage as a whole. Although the system is not fast, it allows for long-term storage of the majority of Medochemie’s extremely cool storage. I thought a system like this would cost millions, yet it only cost 800,000 dollars, being an incredible surprise to me. Overall, our meeting with Medochemie changed my perspective on the innovation behind storage facilities.

CSM brings business to the management of boats, people, and most of the entirety of the shipping industry. Their vision is to become the forefront of the ship management industry and are very well on their way to the top. The company first surprised us with their incredible hospitality, giving us all water bottles as our parting gift from CSM. Furthermore, they were able to show us around their facilities, which fascinated me greatly. We originally began in the operations room, where every boat along with its logistics can be viewed via a screen. This allows full transparency between the technicians and operators, thus minimizing errors while maximizing the safety and efficiency of the boats. Then, we were taken to the crisis management room, where we learned how CSM deals with disasters. They have a very large emphasis on hardcopies within the crisis room, which is unique as many companies prefer digitalized manuals. Furthermore, their line of command was interesting, as it made the model for disasters very organized. One thing I noticed was that CSM has a back-up plan to their backup plan, which is important as their investments are extremely valuable. CMS in totality is dominant within the ship management industry, and they prove it through their top-class efficiency and preparation.

Each company visit today was extremely fascinating to me. The efficiency and ingenuity behind the storage area at Medochemie were top-of-the-line. CSM establishes its prowess in the shipping industry through detailed preparedness and optimization tactics. Both are at the top of their industry and have the evidence to back it up.