Whew! I know that everyone else is also talking about this, but today was one of those days where I missed air conditioning more than anything; I was constantly sweating because of the heat and humidity. I think it’s safe to say that we’ve been spoiled with the indoor A/C for the past couple of days.
We began our day at UEF with an interactive lecture from Professor Minh about developing resilient supply chains. We learned about what factors make the supply chain resilient(such as not being too dependent on one location/being geographically diverse), why Vietnam is a prime location for manufacturing, and ways for companies to recover from supply chain disruptions. We also played another Kahoot(I did not do as well this time haha), came up with 3 worst/3 best/3 impossible responses to a disruption, and made posters exemplifying a company’s disruption and how they should recover from it. I’m always very grateful for this opportunity to simultaneously connect with the UEF students and gain knowledge from such an engaging lecture. Afterwards, we went to a wonderful steakhouse for lunch, where we got pumpkin soup, shrimp pasta, and a kind-of westernized version of bánh mì (we got the meats, eggs, and vegetables on a simmering plate, and then either dipped the bread in it or stuffed it into the bread). Everything, per usual, was quite delectable! Check out Ryan’s blog for the pictures – he always has great ones, especially of the food!
Our site visit today was to Dien Quang, a company that develops technology such as smart products, lighting solutions, electrics, and more. While I truthfully did not understand everything I was looking at during our tour of the factory, it was still insightful to see how they test their products, how they make them, and how they display them. Although I do not have a picture of it, my attention was captured by the way they tested their waterproof lights, which is to have the lights plugged in and pour a bunch of water over it in a contained room. I was most intrigued by their lighting solutions in their smart bar part of the building; seeing how different color tones affects the appearance and appeal of products like meat, fruit, and even clothing was super cool and had me thinking about how this kind of tactic applies to daily life and how it could apply to future instances. This visit was the first time on the trip so far that we had an interpreter translating our presenter’s speeches, so experiencing the language barrier in real time was definitely something new to me and a little difficult to overcome.
We ended our academic day with a nice, long bus ride back to the hotel, during which I know many of us were sleeping. I intended to go shopping with my friends for the evening, but I ended up being so exhausted that I fell asleep right after we got to our rooms.