Dayyyyyy 10!!! Today we visited a company that was not originally on the itinerary, GAP Vassilopoulous Group. They were one of the most diverse companies I’ve ever heard of, with services and business in many different sectors. They are sort of like a modern day vertical integration company. Dr. Vassilopoulous explained how they own part of the entire supply chain, from the shipping and ordering to the warehouses and distribution. He later elaborated how they were the only company they know of that offers the “whole package” and that everyone who has ever come to visit their company has wanted to work with them. They originally started with shipping and insurance around 1960 and expanded into many different sectors. Some of the businesses that surprised me that they expanded in to was hotel and environmental sectors. I found it quite interesting that they work with water treatment in Cyprus as it does not relate to much of what they do. Dr. Vassilopoulous told us a quote that stuck with me, that explains their business strategy: “Grow or Die”. It seems like they are always willing to expand into different sectors. To name a few sectors they work in are the shipping, transportation, distribution, hotel, airline, port management, insurance, and logistics.

During the lecture today, Dr. Vassilopoulous elaborated on some key supply chain terms and concepts. The one that stood out to me personally was the difference between lean and agile. Being lean refers to being more efficient and getting bulk deliveries to save costs. Being efficient also has to deal with having more of a set schedule, like always getting shipments of supplies on certain days of the week. Agile supply chains have to do more with being flexible and being able to quickly responding to the customer’s demands. He explained that the lean supply chain is the most efficient way for a company to run and that it’s kind of like the supply chain operating at its peak. He also emphasized the importance of the supply chain having good visibility throughout. Being able to see the weaknesses in the supply chain can help the company operate at its best. Their company works a lot in logistics which has to do mainly with the planning and transporting of goods. They actually deal with the whole process of logistics, the transporting, the storing and the distributing. Overall, I think this lecture was very informative and I greatly furthered my knowledge of supply chain management.