*Day three was brief but a nice experience 

*My classmates and I got a great workout in as we hiked steep hills to get to the famous Parc Güell. The architecture and marble in the park were gorgeous. It was a very wonderful breathtaking experience!

*After that I ventured off into the city.

*It was nice seeing local artists sing and dance in the streets and on the subways.

*I ended the night with dinner at a nice hidden restaurant with 4 of my peers. 

*Upon arriving back at the hotel, I prepared for a good night’s rest. Writing down plenty of plans for tomorrow.

07/10/2023

Day 5

Our first visit today was a lecture on logistics management at the Universitate Autònoma de Barcelona. It covered the concept of logistics, the different parts of logistics, the importance of logistics, and the main problems of logistics today. We started off talking about several definitions for logistics and logistic management. Two of the main goals in logistics is to reduce cost and time in the most efficient way possible. The two most important objectives in logistics are efficiency & stability. We discussed a chart that explained the 7 R’s of logistics and where we currently are and where we are headed. The 7 R’s are the right time, place, price, product, quantity, customer, and condition. We got to watch a video that walked us through the transportation process for DHL. It showed a lot of how machines and technology are taking over the jobs and processes in logistics. I asked the speaker if he thought the advantages outweigh the disadvantages of technology taking over in logistics. He said that technology is the future of logistics and it makes companies much more efficient. He said it is difficult to say if they do, but that some technological advances actually provide some jobs even though some are being lost. We discussed a lot about transportation. Globally, 70-90% of all products are transported by sea. Road transportation is the most used transportation in Europe. We looked at a map with transports in the USA. The size of the line is related to the type of transport. As well as being the most important economic part of the US, there are also more transports in the north than the other parts. We also looked at the freight types in comparison for DHL as well as transit time vs transportation cost. The freight types shown were truck, boat, train, and plane. It showed that the plane is the fastest but most expensive, and the boat is the slowest and also least expensive. On the line graph that showed transit time vs transportation cost, the cost reduces as the time increases. He talked to us about the types of cargo ships, and told us that the bulk carrier is most important type of ship. We discussed the supply chain and some of the challenges. Some of the challenges in 2023 include increasing freight prices, shortage of raw materials, port congestion, inflation, digital transformation, supply chain ESG, and demand forecasting. I asked him what he would say is the biggest challenge in the world right now, and he said that sustainability is like climate change. He mentioned that bicycles in the city are unbeatable because they are eco friendly, fast and flexible. We also watched a video on Amazon’s Smart Warehouse. The video explained that deep learning AI helps with what customers would want to buy when looking when they log on to Amazon. We discussed the term gigantism which means to construct more and more big ships. We looked at the trend towards gigantism in maritime transport. He showed us the maritime traffic map website, and the colors represent the type of ship. After the lecture, we headed to La Pepa where the group lunch was. We ate patatas bravas, salad, and anchovy toast. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel and had class. Dr. Gonzalez talked to us about lean tools. After class, I worked on the school assignments.

Monday started with a great nights rest. We woke up and had an early breakfast where I was greeted by my professors at breakfast and got ready to head to Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona for a Logistics Management course. His name was Albert and he had a very good presentation on transports and how goods move through Europe. He talked about the current challenges in Supply chain that include Raw materials shortages, inflation, and digital transformation. After we left the lecture we went to lunch at La Pepa where the food was ok, probably wouldn’t go back there. We returned from lunch via metro and had a class session with Dr. Gonzalez on the lean process and what to prepare for tomorrow. Time to buckle down and get some assignments done and have yet another productive tomorrow.

Notes from visit:

Albert Logistics Management

-4 main parts: Supply chain, storage, distribution, transports

-Types of transports: road, rail, air, sea.

Road and Sea most important today

-90% of transport is sea travel

-Logistics is all the processes on movement of goods. Careful organization of complicated activity so it happens Inca successful and effective way.

• Objective: to plan and coordinate all activity at lowest possible cost. Purpose of logistics is to satisfy customers movement of goods in the marketplace.
• Switching from just in time to just in case.

7 R’s:

• Right time. Days to hours
• Right place. DCs to stores becoming DCs
• Right price. Importance to pay for convenience.
• Right product. Make to transport into wider scope of products being shipped together.
• Right quantity. Pallets to eaches
• Right customer. Business2Business to D2C
• Right condition. Important to Perfect

Eaches is picking unities in a product

Future of Logistics Video free documentary

• Find solutions to problems based off of tons of data to make adjustments.
• Logistics started in the military to organize battles.
• Geopolitical change causing adjustments in supply chain.
• DHL distribution center coordinates movement of parcels each night to get packages where they need to go.
• By delivering by bike they save emissions from multiple vans and reduce their carbon footprint.
• Bikes make delivering packages faster than vans in city centers.
• Top trends: AI, smart sensors, collaborative robotics, drones.
• Zero waste emission and latency across all processes
• EU has tried to make sustainability a requirement. Reduce dependence on air and road travel and increase train and sea travel.

Amazon warehouse video:

• Deep Learning AI
• Mecalux

Transports: Road

• Advanatges:

Less investment

Less risk of damage

Door to door service

Transports

• you can tell the economy of a country from its transports
• Global transport 70%-90% of frieght
• EU transport 50% road transport, 33% EU transport

Types of ships

• bulk carrier 45%
• Oil tanker 28%
• Container ship
• Chemical tanker
• LNG (natural gas) ship
• VLCC
• Roro
• General cargo
• Livestock ship

Supply chain challenges in 2023

• raising freight prices
• Raw materials shortage
• Congestion at Ports
• Inflation
• Digital transformation
• Supply chain ESG
• Demand forecasting

Climate change problem is transportation. Electric switch to oil

Andon

Technology is great but labor is important if there is a problem.

Sustainability

Air is 560g of co2 by transporting one ton of good per kilometer

July 10, 2023

This morning we had a guest lecture on Logistics Management at Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona. The presenter gave us a crash course on logistics which was extremely beneficial for someone like me who had not taken a logistics or supply chain management class yet. The presenter provided a definition of logistics as being “the organization of moving goods from a starting location to the final destination,” which, when put in that context, made it sound so simple compared to the real-world logistics environment. He discussed that the main goals for logistics were to reduce cost, time and increase efficiency levels. He provided an example that really put things into perspective for me and said that preparing for an exam can be dealt with logistically. It is an attempt to receive the best result on the exam with the least amount of costs and in the least amount of time. He then dove into the concept of logistics management, where the objective is to plan and coordinate all the activities necessary to achieve the desired level of service and quality at the lowest possible cost. He further emphasized that the ultimate purpose of any logistics system is to satisfy the customer by establishing linkages of people at all levels in the organization directly or indirectly to the marketplace. He introduced the idea of the 7 R’s in logistics in flux, which I had subconsciously considered but had never really listed out to really examine. They are the right time, right place, the right price, right product, right quantity, right customer, and right condition. We then watched a video on logistics that emphasized the popularity of online shopping and showed the shipment of a package from procurement to the final destination while discussing possible inconveniences and uncontrollable events that may occur where the logistics industry must adapt to and find a solution. We also discussed the future of automated logistics. The video also showed the DHL distribution center and the combination of human labor, artificial intelligence, robots, and technology that increases productivity at the distribution center and the warehouses. I found the video called Inside Amazon’s Smart Warehouse very interesting and eye-opening. The company is successful because of the lightning-fast delivery times, even having the capability to deliver in under 24 hours. They described it as “a symphony of humans and machines working together.”We learned that Amazon’s website and app use deep knowledge AI to know what you’re going to buy weeks or months before you buy it, which honestly traumatized me a little bit, being an avid Amazon shopper. We also discussed the different modes of transportation along with the benefits and consequences of each of them socially, economically, and environmentally. 

Questions I asked during the lecture:

• what are your opinions on autonomous logistics? 
  • he responded with a concern about investments in automation. Big companies have the funding to make the investment but also hold more of a monopoly over the industry, such as those in the US, whereas compared to Europe, whose main companies in logistics are smaller and it’s a large investment to automate. It’s also difficult to find individuals that are professional enough to handle the new and advanced technology
• What large ports can you think of that have automated their operations and have excelled because of it?
  • He answered that the most important ports in the world are incorporating more and more automation. The most important US ports are Newark/NYC and LA. In China, it’s Hong Kong and Tianjin, and in Europe, the biggest is Rotterdam.

The place we went for lunch, called La Pepa, was funny because the manager and staff kept getting mad at us for not finishing our food even though we were all so so full. The food was so good!!! We headed back to the hotel and had a class on supply chain with Dr. G, which is always a good, fun, and educational time. We discussed lean tools and six sigma, which were essential concepts to help us look at the organizational and operational aspects of the firms and organizations we visited.

The rest of the day consisted of doing homework, and I met up with friends I met at the hostel in Malaga for dinner at a rooftop restaurant.

July 9, 2023

Today we had a lazy, free day. Summer and I pretty much laid in bed all day in the air conditioning until around 4 pm. Air Conditioning in Spain is quite literally a luxury. Every day of the trip, the temperatures averaged around 95-100F so having the opportunity to be in air conditioning at all was a blessing. We ended up leaving to go get a late lunch at a pizza restaurant near Passeig de Gracia, which is near all the popular shops. It is so busy in that area, but we definitely did some damage shopping yet again. I find it interesting how cheap everything is here compared to the United States, so that’s kind of how we’re justifying our purchases. Summer and I walked around and pretty much shopped until around 8:30 pm. We had a pretty calm evening, and I went to dinner with Summer at Mood Rooftop. From the rooftop, we were able to see the Barcelona skyline, the beach, and the port. It was absolutely beautiful. We took tons of pictures and got Mediterranean food. We ended the night with gelato!

July 8, 2023

Today we had quite the late start after such a long day yesterday. But we started the day at a cafe and then took a trip to Park Guell. I don’t think I have ever sweat so much in my life. We walked for 15 minutes straight up hill to the park and up approximately 400 stairs. I should also add in that I grew up on Hilton Head so I never had to encounter hills/mountains such as this. It was quite the workout. The park was absolutely beautiful once arriving. We also found a beautiful lookout over the whole Barcelona city and the ocean after leaving the park. We walked into every tourist shop we could find to look for the cheesiest souvenirs to bring home. I found it hilarious that every tourist shop was selling the exact same things in each one. We took the metro back to the hotel and relaxed for a little before wandering around the city more during our free time and doing loads of shopping. We went to Zara, Bershka, Pull&Bear, HM, and many boutiques that were so much cheaper and more beautiful than those in the United States. I also took a little excursion to make my own jewelry at a cute little shop near the Barcelona beach. We ended up going to an amazing restaurant for dinner that had plants and trees everywhere inside called Taragaluz. We had tuna carpaccio and croquettes as well as some delicious pasta. An awesome Saturday in Barcelona!!!

July 7, 2023

This morning we had the opportunity to visit Consorci and Estoko. We learned about the 3incubator non-profit 3D printing whose goal is to 3D print and increase the Barcelona Metropolitan area economy. Estoko logistics was very interesting to learn about because it differs widely from the logistics company, I am familiar with and work for. Estoko’s main interest is to coordinate the use of warehouses and to optimize space in the available warehouses in Spain, Portugal, and southern France. I was very curious about the transportation aspect of the company because he also admitted that most of the profit comes from the transportation side of logistics. Estoko explained that he wanted to stay away from the trucking, sea, and air legs of the transportation to avoid a liability on his hands. I asked him why he would not take advantage of being able to make a profit from transportation and furthermore increase his revenue and overall he seemed to be strongly against this idea and aimed to push his customers more towards using his partners for those aspects of the shipment. However, I did enjoy that he touched on the importance of his companies attempts to be eco-friendly. Estoko reduced 30% of carbon emissions by providing warehouses near the pickup/destination locations. Overall, it was a very insightful visit and was amazing to see successful startup businesses in the logistics and innovation networks. In the afternoon we had lunch and did two more tours with Marga. We walked around the Mercat de la Boqueria and saw the fresh produce, fish, meat, and cheese vendors. Afterwards, we took the train to the Sagrada Familia and took part in a guided audio tour around the temple and the surrounding school. The inside was absolutely beautiful, and I particularly enjoyed the stained-glass windows.