It’s day 3 in Cyprus, and fittingly, we visited 3 companies today.

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement

Our first stop of the day was qt Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement. We learned about their operations and the role they play in the Cypriot and global shipping industry. At their center in Limassol they train shipping crews. Their state of the art simulation rooms and equipment ensure that crews are well trained for life at sea. However, what surprised me was the breadth of other services they offer under the Bernhard Schulte umbrella. I was particularly surprised that they provide services such as maritime cybersecurity. From a business sense, I can see why this helps them.

Columbia Shipmanagement

Our second stop was at Columbia Shipmanagement. Similarly to Bernhard Shulte, they manage and crew ships. However, I was surprised to learn that they have expanded into other maritime management activities, such as private yacht management. Even further, they have begun management of assets like private jets. Additionally, their operations efficiency room was very interesting as an engineer. From here, they monitor the route and fuel efficiency of the hundreds of vessels in their global fleet. The different engineering backgrounds (chemical, aerospace, and maritime) of the staff there highlighted the endless possibilities outside of what one might consider normal for their discipline.

Medochemie

The last, and most exciting, stop of the day was at Medochemie, a company which manufactures generic drugs. We went in depth into their supply chain and forecasting process. Many topics which we discussed before departure were brought up, such as responsiveness vs efficiency and forecasting models. I was also impressed by the time frame on which they operate: 5-6 years of drug development prior to a month-long cycle to introduce the drug to market. Additionally, their warehouse and supply logistics were impressive: they move 500+ pallets in a typical day. Overall, Medochemie was the most interesting to me. As a biomedical engineer, understanding the process by which ingredients (or components of a device) come together to create a finished product is informative and important to my future work.