Good evening! Today we went to Vassiliko Cement Company and VTTI Cyprus. As most companies have been, they were extremely hospitable. The hospitality in the Cyprus culture truly shines through everywhere we go. Vasilliko was established in 1963, and the first production of cement occurred in 1967. A long process requiring a lot of equipment such as silos, crushers, preheaters, etc. is done in order to make the cement. Then they built the port in 1983 in order to import raw materials and export product. This is an example of vertical integration because now they can not only create the cement, but do all the distribution and importation as well. They even do some retail (another aspect of the supply chain), having consumers come in directly and tell the quota they need. It is then packaged and sold in bags or in bulk. They are attempting to own as much of their supply chain as they possibly can. This maximizes efficiency via economies of scale, which is something we learned in our classes before this trip. It is so fun to see all these concepts come to play in real life. VTTI, which owns Vassiliko also helps to balance the supply and demand and facilitate the flow of money. There are some aspects of their company that they do not own because large trading companies also interact and can be shareholders. True vertical integration is definitely harder to do nowadays, then when Ford first started it but VTTI/Vassiliko does a pretty great job at owning most of their chain. A big thing in supply chain management that I learned in my marketing class is that you have to maximize customer value and have a consumer-centric approach. The company really focused on how this is what they have. To summarize the rest of the day after the company visit, we had a delicious seafood maze, visited St. Lazarus church, and the Hala Sultan Tekke mosque. Both religious sites were beautiful and impressive. I truly love embracing the rich culture and history that surrounds me.