Week 2 started with the Cat Lai Terminal tour, and it would surely be hard to overstate the magnitude of their operations. They process a ship in 12-18 hours and move 81 containers an hour. Watching it in person, it didn’t feel shocked by any complicated technology or automations, but how much of the operation still runs on people. The cranes and reach stackers are massive, but there are people in those cabs, and the rice packing area had many people sifting through different packages. It was pretty similar to one of my past summer jobs where I spent some time working on the docks at a trucking company. The systems are pretty simple, and they rely a lot more on human cognition than what “global logistics” makes it seem.

I think Cat Lai is as green as they can realistically be. I appreciated how openly they acknowledged that they weren’t even near carbon neutral, but are actively taking steps to work on these areas.

We then arrived at Dan On Foods. Cat Lai was hot, loud, and human-driven, Dan On was clean, cool, and heavily automated. The whole facility was spotless. They went out of their way to minimize cross-contamination — separate zones, dedicated footwear (everyone wore those green crocs, which was a nice touch, blue for bathroom, and orange for workers), and machines that did most of the actual handling while workers oversaw the process. The equipment was huge and impressive, but what really stood out was how nice the rest of the building was. Pool. Gym. Many comfortable common areas. It seems that once a Vietnamese company, or any company, hits its a certain level of stability, it starts allocating money into employee quality of life.

I think business operations in Vietnam don’t fit any one model. Cat Lai is a government company that is drove by human labor. Dan On is private, and has automated most of its processes. Glass Egg is creative services, while Park Hyatt was client facing luxury services. Despite having different philosophies and operating at much different scales, all of them are concerned with the global economy in some way, especially towards green goals. At this point, perhaps Vietnam is not trying to win a race or catch up to other countries, but instead carve out its own path, and hone in on the certain capabilities that they excel in.

I ended the day by getting Dons. This was the best McD’s burger I have had; the lettuce, pickles, and tomatoes were abnormally fresh. The service was great despite the language barrier. The menu was interesting and I had to try a bit of everything. Can you see the matcha McFlurry? I can not remember the last time an ice cream machine worked back home. I honestly still find it ludicrous that a McDonald’s burger is better in another country than in the country it was created in. Delicious Burger and Vietnam is an Oxymoron. At least is should be, especially if it is being compared to the US. But, it seems the Vietnamese have excelled in the art of burger flipping and bagging fries. I am duly impressed. In fact, when ordering a fried chicken (with their special green sauce) you are given a glove to eat the chicken, so that you do not dirty your hand. Ingenious. This was a great meal.