Ulm
2008
The
day started very early for us because we had to be at the bus
station by 7am to get ready for the trip to Ulm. The bus did not
arrive on time at the bus station so we left around 7:45. It was
the first time ever since I got to Tübingen seeing a German
not being on time because Germans are always on time, this is
one thing I have noticed about German people. On our way to Ulm
I was sleeping because I did not get enough sleep, so did not
see anything. We got to Ulm a little bit after 9 am. Our first
visit was the Ratiopharm company. Anna-Isabella Österle welcomed
us and took us to the room where one of her colleagues Jeff Gosnell
gave a presentation about the company.
Ratiopharm is a generics company, which produces products that
already exist in the market for quite a number of years. That
differs from a research company, because it focuses more on producing
products that already exist (in a cheaper way) rather than developing
new products. The company does research new medicines but their
main goal is to make medicine affordable to more people. The company
started in 1881 by Adolf Merckle, he established sales company
for chemicals and pharmaceuticals. It expanded to most parts of
Europe and later expanded internationally. The main interest of
the company is to cover most parts of Europe. They do not have
vested interest in Africa, it is because the company is a little
more conservative and there is strong competition in generics
in Africa. The company prefers to invest in countries that use
the same currency as them which is Euro. The main aim for this
approach is to try and reduce the risk they take as the company.
The standards of the Ratiopharm company is to produce high quality
products, low priced products, wide range of medical products,
transparent brand name and substantial services. By doing so Ratiopharm
makes an important contribution to reducing costs in the healthcare
sector. Ratiopharm is Germany’s most prescribed and used
brand of pharmaceuticals and is number three in the German pharmaceutical
market. The Chief Executive Office of the company Dr. Philipp
Daniel Merckle believed in three management elements namely OIKOS
(the company will be run like a family would be, with one person
in charge and everyone plays their part), PRAZISIONS (precision)
and STIL (style) which serve as the basis to realign the corporate
structure. After the presentation tea, coffee and drinks were
served with pretzels, the traditional food of this area. Afterwards
we watched a movie about how the company does their production.
The movie only lasted for 15 minutes then we went to the production
area where all the products are being made. Before entering the
production area we had to dress up in protective clothes so we
do not contaminate the medicines that were being made. Lunch was
served after we were given a tour guide by Anna-Isabella Österle.
I was really impressed with the "finger food" they served
us. It was the best food I had eaten ever since I got to Germany,
but this was the general consensus with everyone who had eaten
the "finger food". We sang for them before we left,
they were really amazed by our beautiful performance. People came
out of their offices just to watch us performing.
We left and went to the Cathedral of Ulm. The Cathedral of Ulm
is the highest in the world measuring 161 meters long from bottom
to top. Some of us climbed the tower; it was really hard going
up. We took so many breaks and a lot of us had the mind of turning
back, Marion being there convinced us otherwise. When we got to
the top it was the most amazing experience, being able to climb
the highest church tower in the world. It was worth our time going
up there although afterwards I felt sick because my knees were
shaking and my head was dizzy.
We visited the SÜDWEST PRESSE in Ulm which is the most read
regional newspaper on daily basis in Baden-Wurttemberg. We got
to a discussion with two of the people that work there. We were
given bags, pens and sweets and then pretzels were served with
drinks and coffee. This was the end of the day but I must say
it was tiring with interesting activities though.
by
Tumi Nkohla
Last
Update (23/01/08)
