Today we were originally supposed to see Wargaming which was the company that my group presented on. Unfortunately, they ended up cancelling, but we were so incredibly lucky that another company made time to see us. We ended up going to G.A.P. Vassilopoulos and getting to speak with Petros Vassilopoulos and his nephew. The company was founded in 1964 by Petros and his two brothers Aires and George’s, father. He focused on agriculture and invented a patent for neon sides. However, after his sons returned University they took over and entered into the shipping business. The company is incredibly impressive. They are now involved in shipping, insurance, airlines, financial services, international courier services, hospitality, transport and logistics, merchandising, business solutions technology, water treatment, and more. They have 1,100 employees, 12 warehouses, and 350 vehicles. Something I found interesting was that he explained in order to understand how big their company was from the United States perspective, we would have to multiply every number by 350. This would allow us to see just how big their company is relative to the big companies in the US.
With all these different services offered, Petros explained to us that the key to management is collaboration and communication. He explained that in business, you can have competitors that are also your collaborators. If two departments in the company cannot communicate, then the supply chain will never work and the company will suffer. Another one of his insights was that the more visibility a company had, the better. It is important to see the product go from the original source to the end creation. G.A.P has achieved this by having control of so many different services. I was amazed by this company and grateful that an Executive Director took time out of his day to come and speak with us. He also gave each of us a business card and shook our hands. It showed that he truly cared about sharing his knowledge with the next generation. I am grateful to G.A.P Vassilopoulos and Pitt for giving me this opportunity.