Today we only had one site visit, and we heard from two companies, VVTV and Vsaliko Cement works.

VVTV was an energy storage company. They made money by acting as an intermediary between oil companies and customers. Basically, they act as a hotel where a company pays money just to use their space. Later, when we toured the facilities, we saw the giant barrels where the oil is kept. Another service that is provided by VVTV is converting the oil so that their customers can use it. Because of differences in infrastructure, different customers need different types of oil, and VVTV provides this service for their customers.

We also heard from Vsaliko Cement works. From the beginning of our meeting, the executives of Vsaliko Cement works stressed the importance of moving toward more sustainable practices. This is because Vsaliko Cement works operate very large factories which obviously give off a lot of greenhouse gasses. In fact, the factories that they operate are so big that electricity is their biggest expense, not workers or supplies. In order to become more sustainable, Vsaliko is switching toward certain alternative sources of fuels such as chopped tires. We also learned that cement is a very prevalent industry in Cyprus, being its 3rd largest export. Vslaiko cement works operate by first taking care of the needs of the local market, and then exporting the rest of their product overseas. After our meeting, we toured the facilities and came upon the operating center of the vats. two rows of computer screens sprawled out in a semi-circle, with 3 workers operating them. We learned that the cement production could be operated fully remotely, with a press of a button on a computer screen actually opening or closing a valve, or adjusting the temperature. This site visit showed me how more and more tasks are being automated by computers to cut down the cost of labor.