Our first company visit today was with Bernard-Schulte Ship management. Their Limassol facilities are all located right near the marina, one of the bussyest parts of town. Today I learned that the shipping industry as a whole is regulated by many companies including the IMO, International maritime organization. BSM is currently operating about 600 ships around the world from tankers, bulkers, offshore services, cruise ships, yachts, and more. BSM has a large facility dedicated to teaching courses to aspiring seafarers, someone who works at sea. They exhibit significant emphasis on real experience as opposed to learning in a classroom, with hands-on training. One of their biggest training utilities is their simulators. They have fuel, gas, engine, and even more simulators. Some of the main field trainings they offer are sea fire fighting, flare training, flipping rafts, and escape equipment. Additionally, I learned that there are all kinds of jobs to do involving the sea, even if you are not actually on board. Some of their departments are Archeology for the sea, Marine biology, Lawyers, Purchasing, Engineers, Ship captains, Crewing, and Travel agency. Furthermore, after a few years at sea, many career opportunities arise higher up the food chain. Another interesting fact I learned is that there is a website AIS which tracks the location and movement of all vessels on the sea around the world over a certain size.
Columbia Ship Management is at its core, a ship management company, but has expanded into a billion dollar company which provides third-party services wherever their clients need. To me, the company is driven not by the ship management industry, but by their clients, and they do their best to fit any needs they may have. CSM has about 22 thousand seafarers at sea, manning ships in all facets of the ship. They provide all aspects of crew for the ship whether it be the hotel services or fixing engines. At its core, CSM are venture capitalists who will jump at any opportunity that sounds good and put their creative minds to use and innovate new solutions for their clients needs. As a part of their initiative, CSM breathes passion in all of their employees, and firmly believes that without it, mistakes are much easily made and not rectified. CSM is constantly diversifying at any opportunity, and grows endlessly as a result. CSM is in so many different fields that they are almost vertically integrated in the ship management field and a service provider capable of fixing whatever is needed.
Cyprus’s pharmaceutical industry is one of their greatest exports and imports, and at the forefront is Medochemie, a pharmaceutical manufacturer. Medochemie uses a straightforward operational chain of command to stay on top of product schedules managing product demand and inventory. Medochemie uses a planning schedule to determine how much product to order using demand forecasting. Demand forecasting involves using data from previous orders, time of year, temperature, global crises, and even politics can factor in to demand forecasting. Their process is as follows: planning according to how much product they can make in a given time, demand forecasting, inventory capacity, operational speed, site visits to confirm that all operations are operating as planned, and finally a financial evaluation to weigh costs and revenue. Their process must be so detailed and accurate because Medochemie is not vertically integrated, and thus is at the whims of suppliers and consumer need. Additionally, I learned a lot about how pharmacies make drugs. The only component of drugs that are chemically active when we take them are the active ingredients, which make up less than one percent of the drugs makeup! The other materials that go into the drugs are considered excipients, which are added as protection, to shield the medication as it goes through our body, color, taste, appearance, to make it longer lasting, longer shelf life, and to control the speed of release.
