Today we were back in Limassol down by the Marina to start our first company site visits! To start, I got to see two sides of ship management in Cyprus. First, we heard from Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement Training Center (BSM), where we were given an overview of the larger company, Schulte Group, and what they are involved in (training for seafarers, yacht and cruise services, travel agency, inspection/technical advisory, venture capital, maritime insurance, consulting, etc.). It was amazing to hear about so many diverse service offerings under one company, and really drove home the concepts of vertical integration we learned about in the pre-departure classes. The highlight of the visit was that we also got to learn more about the specifics of the training the facility runs, including watching videos of students doing immersion and fire extinguishing exercises, touring the workshop, and interacting with the multiple high-tech simulators (for engine, bridge, and liquified cargo). It was very informative, as I knew next to nothing about all that goes into crew training and such, but the entire facility was so cool, even down to the on-theme decor.

Next, we headed to Columbia Shipmanagement (CSM) to learn more about the industry and the less hands-on aspects. This company was very similar to the previous one in terms of their varying range of services and sectors, including Shipmanagement (with crewing and training, technical, vessel inspections, etc.), Logistics and Services (including procurement, maritime catering and housekeeping, spare parts, equipment, security, etc.), Leisure (including cruise and yacht services as well as aviation), Energy and Offshore (including involvements in the discovery and collection of oil and gas, with green wind farms, etc.), Technology (with focuses on vessel performance optimization, software development, vessel navigation and tracking, etc.), Finance (including a new investment into venture capital, consulting, etc.), and Commercial (including chartering, sales, etc.) While this wide variety of offerings has many parallels to those of Schulte Group, it did have some differences that helped set it apart, like the fact that they also have new ship building in addition to simply owning or managing vessels. The tour also included a look into the Performance Optimization Control Room, where we were walked through the specifics of the division (the employees there mainly work with the Commercial and Technical sectors to monitor vessels and communicate advice based on their status and activities). I also watched as some of the room’s software, called EngineLink, was demonstrated to display informational dashboards of specific vessels, including things like engine health, emissions, etc., and then VR simulation used for training engineers and other such workers was shown. As a whole the tour was very intriguing, as it introduced a different part of the ship management business, and all the information was definitely fun to learn.

Lastly, after a quick lunch break at the Limassol Marina area, we hopped back on the bus for a final stop at Medochemie, a pharmaceutical company in Cyprus. There, we immediately dived into the supply chain planning and operations of the company, with the speakers taking us through the entire process (it starts with strategic parts, including business/budget planning, then the tactical part of sales and operational planning, then the actual operational part comes in with master scheduling, capacity planning, materials planning, order releasing, and finally execution). As this was explained, the employees made notable emphasis on the company’s focuses of quality but affordable products, as well as pointing out the key balancing act of planning to ensure the right amount of stock without incurring too many losses. Many concepts we learned about pre-departure were brought up during the question and answer session, including the tradeoff of responsiveness and efficiency (where supply chain plans try to find the perfect mix of being adaptable to consumers and operating at maximum productivity), and forecasting (Medochemie using the average quantities of products as well as past and current demand patterns to predict the necessary amounts to stock, keep as safety inventory, etc.). I also got to learn more about the specific challenges faced in the pharmaceutical industry for supply chain planning, considering the added variable of drugs having set shelf life before they expire, or the fact that original drug patents give the developer company up to 25 years of exclusivity but then bring new competition and generic versions later on. The final part of the visit concluded with a tour of the warehouse facility, where I got to see rows of meticulously organized storage racks (the total rooms contained about 7,700 pallets of product, packed into just 2,500 square meters of area) as well as the cool technology the company has to increase efficiency and protect the products (including robots that run under racks to both retrieve and count products quickly, numerous fire prevention measures to stop the spread fast and prevent the large scale destruction of valuable products and materials, and multiple types of automated equipment to move product and materials). It was totally engaging to see so much of what we learned in the classroom in practical application with Medochemie, and definitely reinforced my supply chain knowledge.

Overall, today’s company visits offered a nice insight into the many real-world applications of the material we’ve studied. I especially enjoyed the chance to interact with the lesson through the multiple different sections of the tours, trying out simulators, and asking questions about the facilities. My favorite visit of the day would have to be the last one to Medochemie, because while I enjoyed the contrast of the two ship management companies, I thought pharmaceuticals was an interesting change of pace from the usual focus on ships in a location like Cyprus. In addition, the direct connection the speakers made to the supply chain concepts we learned about was very helpful in driving home the information I learned pre-departure. In the end, all of the experiences I had today were an amazing add-on to the course material, and it was very nice getting to meet all of the professionals who dedicated their time to showing us around!