Big Ships in Pula

Big ships are made of big pieces.

Hard hats on, watching the electromagnetic crane and the really big plasma cutter.

We were allowed to bend some safety rules and came into the walkway between manufacturing areas with just hard hats. 

Ying and Kristopher are talking about manufacturing.

Look at those cables!

This crane is HUGE.

Our cohort had a fantastic visit to Uljanik during our day trip to Pula, Croatia.  Our host tried hard to answer our questions, but she is relatively new and not used to giving tours to business students!  She did an admirable job and we are grateful she was able to show us around, instead of canceling this site visit. From a manufacturing perspective, I was interested to see the VERY LARGE plasma cutter.  When we asked about supply chain and how costs of raw materials impact the business, our host told us that because each ship is built to different specifications, the companies ordering the ships provide their own steel that meets their own requirements for strength, etc. I thought that was pretty interesting and is a way for Uljanik to shield their business from fluctuations in the steel industry.  However, I guess a big spike would mean customers delay ordering.  Is this model sustainable?  I would have loved to ask more questions.