We started off today with a company tour of Coherent. They are the largest producer of lasers sold in the US for the last 50 years. These lasers are used in the automotive industry for production, medical devices, and additive manufacturing technology. They also produce cloud storage options and work to create some of the AI platforms. Additionally, they use point care diagnostics and create personalized medicines. A lot of these industries are produced right here in Vietnam. One thing that I found interesting about them was that they use a vertical integration method. This means that they mine the raw materials themselves and go all the way up to the end use product. I find this very impressive.
I was also amazed by their core values which spell out, ‘I CARE.’ This stands for integrity, collaboration, accountability, respect, and enthusiasm. They invest in their employees by giving them free lunch, access to a gym, workout/yoga sessions, workshop training classes, and leadership classes. Moreover, they have townhall meetings and an anonymous app for employees to discuss issues they have with the company and how to make things better. This encourages the spread of ideas and ways to improve the company for the future.
Despite the ongoing tariffs being imposed on Vietnam by the US, I still feel that they would expand to a new facility for the low-cost labor that exists here. Even though the tariff will raise the cost, I do not believe that it would raise it to a point to shift manufacturing out of Vietnam. Plus they do receive the intellectual property from the US which is not affected.
After the site visit, we went to play soccer with a local team. This was a lot of fun and we honestly did not do too bad for competing against a professional team. However, I do think they were taking it easy on us which is fine by me. Although the weather was just so hot. I am pretty sure that my shirt was drenched after playing for 2 minutes. However despite the heat we played a fun Vietnamese relay race of sorts with a flying arrow toy. This was exciting and I am glad I got the opportunity. Finally, after all of this we had an award ceremony where I got a medal! That was really cool!
