Today, we were given the chance to have two more company visits. We visited HY Corporation and the Samsung Innovation Museum. HY is a company that specializes in probiotics, especially in Yakult drinks. Yakult is Japanese originated sweetened probiotic milk beverage. The tour was very informative and engaging. There were many videos that walked you through the creation of their drinks. There were hands on information on things ranging from the material used to produce the bottles for their drinks to the process of adding probiotics to the drinks themselves. We also got to see the factory in which their drinks are produced. Although they are mainly known for the probiotic drinks that they make, their products reach far beyond that (including items like eggs, oats, juice mixes, etc.). We concluded the tour by trying some of their drink products. It was really interesting to hear that they get all the milk for their yogurt drinks from only cows in South Korea. 

After our time at HY, we went directly to the Samsung Innovation Museum after a quick stop for lunch. During the tour, we learned about the history of many aspects of the company. We also learned more about the history of the different innovations that happened throughout the past that helped Samsung reach the point that they are at today. For example, there were exhibits on the discovery of electricity, achievements made for mobile phones, development of televisions throughout history, etc. 

During this part of the tour, it was interesting to learn that Reginald A. Fessenden was brought to Pittsburgh by George Westinghouse as the first electrical engineering department head. Because of his pioneering studies with voice transmission, he is credited with being the “Father of Radio”. He is also given this title because in 1906, he succeeded in transmitting the human voice over a radio wave for the first time in history. The last part of the tour was going through a showroom of Samsung’s latest products. Products ranged from TV’s that look like paintings, smart fridges, and interactive whiteboards. The tour was conducted in such a way that getting a background of the technological achievements made in the past really opened up my eyes to how far society and technology has come since then.