Instead of attending classes during one part of the day, and a company visit during the other, we did two rounds of company visits today. The first one was Saigon Hi-tech Park, which provides resources to companies that are part of this association, and they can send their employees to this place to create products. They offer resources such as a maker innovative space, where they can create prototypes and present them to their company or potential investors. It was really cool to see a space like that, because it gives employees the potential to be able to develop a product. The University of Pittsburgh offers a similar space-but with less technological resources because students don’t need major technology-to that in Benedum Hall, the Engineering Hall. It consists of similar resources, such as a 3D printer, sewing machines, silicon molding, soldiering, and more. I liked the collaboration of University centers, because collaboration is an important aspect of creating a new product, because in order to make it better, that requires the input of others.

This is a picture of one of the sets of equipment that is provided for people to develop their product.

After a quick break for lunch, we visited the next company, Coherent. This place is interesting because it consists of factories that produce lasers and some other high-level technology that requires manual work, so that its products are made with precision. The tour guide told us that they can’t use machines for this kind of work because it requires too much precision, and getting machines to do that would make the equipment even more expensive than it already is. Coherent’s rapid expansion makes sense, because they require the development of parts that they need to use to create their actual product, instead of purchasing it from another company. This factory that we visited was very different than the other factories we’ve been to, because it was more western. The employees had closed-toe shoes and wore protective glasses and hair nets. Also, there was a lot more AC in the building, which I wasn’t sure if it was due to the microscopic level of precision needed for the products or due to western ideal of always blasting cold air in the winter.

This is a picture of the outside of the building, because we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside of any of buildings.