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Day Trip to Peacocks Medical Group Ltd

By Zhen Wang

Half of the class, two of the each of the group members, went to Peacocks Medical Group Ltd in Newcastle Upon Tyne on 19th October 2006. We had a group assignment earlier, which was about the analysis and reengineering of Peacocks' current business procedures. On the day we had the opportunity to visit Peacocks headquarters with the purpose of collecting the necessary data for our project.

Peacocks, should you not heard of them before, is one of the UK's largest and prestigious companies that has been providing medical goods and service for over one hundred years. The company invited us to observe its supply chain system and evaluate its current systems, thereby suggesting better business methods or technologies. Our task was to help the company move away from paper-based systems to modern IT-based ones.

That morning, everybody in the course was very excited about this project. We took the initiative to undertake background research about the project so as to prepare ourselves better. After arriving at the Bedson Teaching Centre on time, we went to the company by taxis. When we arrived there we listened to the company's presentation attentively, and actively tried to demonstrate our professionalism. The session was followed by many questions by the students about the project and what the company’s goals were. We also asked many questions about the technology used in the company and also focused on the available infrastructure.

After the presentation about the project and the questions and answers session, which was the main reason why we visited the company, we attended a health and safety talk. This was required because we were going to visit the company’s manufacturing premises. Before that we were invited to the company's showroom, which was rather small, but they had managed to pack many products there for display.  When we visited manufacturing floor, what I personally found interesting was that they used hi-tech machinery and old tools together to produce their products. When asked, they said that especially when they do customisations it is not often possible to use hi-tech machinery.

After the tour in the manufacturing department, we departed from Peacocks. It was a fulfilling day even though the weather did not help (it was a rainy day!). From this trip, we have been able to learn much about the company and its processes. We also had a good opportunity to work as a team and had an experience of working as a consultant. I do hope that there will be more trips like this so that we can develop our skills even further and bring what we learn into the real working environment.

For more information please visit:http://www.ncl.ac.uk/nubs/postgrad/taught/ebis/index.htm