I started the day off today with a morning run to a local coffee and pastry shop. There I ordered a Vietnamese milk coffee which was really good and the only downside was that it was a lot smaller than what I am used to in the states. When I sat down I accidentally knocked over my cup and quickly tried to save it from spilling all over the table. I got the cup back upright and saw no spilled coffee so I thought my spidey-spenses were on point for the day. However, my ego was slightly bruised when I realized that nothing spilled because the lid on the drink was completely closed in a dome shape with just the straw hole at the top. I thought this was interesting because it was packaging I had never seen used for a drink like coffee before and I was impressed with the strength of the lid. This also reminded me of the bags that people hold their drinks with in Vietnam which is also a unique type of packaging that I find really functional. It would be interesting to see if these types of packaging could be integrated into the U.S. market because, despite their efficacy, I think they would struggle due to the increase in single-use plastics that such packaging would bring. However, I am unsure of the environmental impact of the cups themselves so maybe they could be developed in an eco-friendly way that would make them palatable for countries with focuses on sustainability.
Later in the day we went on our second site visit which was to Dien Quang, a leading electrical product and home solutions manufacturer in Vietnam. It was sometimes hard to understand the presenters and tour guides but the facility spoke for itself. One area we got to see was a product testing area where the company tested products against various simulated extreme elements for QA. The machinery itself was very impressive and it was cool to see them in action through the windows. It was especially interesting to me because they were testing products against elements that are unseen in Vietnam so the process really showed Dien Quang’s attention to detail and multinational focus. We also got to see a “Smart Bar” where they had a gallery of various home solutions including a smart system reminiscent of Alexa. The gallery also went beyond the home and displayed products for everything from local businesses to airports. This variety really emphasized Dien Quang’s positioning as the industry leader in Vietnam and made the tour a really immersive experience. We also had our last class with professor Minh which covered part 2 of his lecture on building sustainable and resilient businesses. In the class we did an activity where we chose a company with global operations and presented possible impacts and responses they would have to a hypothetical supply chain disruption. My group covered PepsiCo operating in a global pandemic while combating changing consumer preferences due to the growth of the health and fitness industry. This was a very real world example and working alongside the UEF students on the presentation helped me gain a really valuable perspective on navigating challenges in a global environment. Overall day 3 was really insightful and I am excited for day 4 where we will be visiting the Cu Chi tunnels.
