Eurozone finance ministers agreed on a bailout strategy for debt-riddled Greece. The American markets opened high in the US, with the Dow Jones industrial average at a nearly four-year high, just 20 points away from 13,000. This is exciting, as the Dow Jones has not reached 13,000 since May 2008.

Insiders say the bailout of Greece will resolve the country’s immediate financing needs. But the program, like most if not all bailouts, seems unlikely to revive the nation’s shattered economy in the longer term. That will have to come from some serious internal structuring. The doubt is whether Greece’s internal systems are capable of that sort of overhaul. Let’s hope so. Now is a time when we’re reminded that the global supply chain and its attendant economy is only as strong as its weakest link.

Our markets are your markets, and your markets are our markets, and we are all together. Goo goo ga joo.

Greece is the walrus 

The bailout deal will cut Greece’s debt to 120.5% of gross domestic product by 2020. That’s a fraction above their original target of 120%, after negotiators for private bondholders accepted bigger losses to help plug the funding gap.

Agreement on the $170 billion rescue package, subject to strict conditions, will help draw a line under months of uncertainty that has shaken the currency bloc, and avert an imminent Greek bankruptcy, Euractiv reported.

“We have reached a far-reaching agreement on Greece’s new programme and private-sector involvement that would lead to a significant debt reduction for Greece and pave the way towards an unprecedented amount of new official financing … to secure Greece’s future in the euro area,” Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the Eurogroup of finance ministers, told a news conference.

Making it in the old country

As for manufacturing and Greece, for businesses in the heavy equipment, vehicle/auto and aerospace industries (or users of their components), Greece is not an insignificant supply chain source. Below please find a list of manufacturing companies in Greece whose names may well appear on your purchasing orders. Or on your suppliers’ purchasing orders. When you’re planning a winter vacation, Greece seems much farther away than you’d like. But in a global economy, Greece really isn’t all that far away at all.

To show that Greece is significant, not just in the world of finance but in the realm of the global manufacturing supply chain, we respectfully submit the following. Here is a partial list of higher profile manufacturers in Greece:

1.   AEKKEA-RAAB
2.   EADS 3 Sigma
3.   Hellenic Aeronautical Technologies
4.   Hellenic Aerospace Industry
5.   State Aircraft Factory (Greece)
6.   BIOMAN (lifting devices)
7.   Kouppas (machinery)
8.   EADS 3 Sigma
9.   EAS (weapons)
10.   Econ group (Greece)
11.   Elviemek (defense)
12.   Hellenic Aerospace Industry
13.   Hellenic Arms Industry
14.   OMI Ordtech Military Industries
15.   Pyrkal (defense)
16.   Dimadis-Kanakis (engine)
17.   Malkotsis (engine)
18.   Chropei (firearms)
19.   EAS (weapons)
20.   Basileiades (vehicle)
21.   Hellenic Shipyards Co.(vehicle)

Extended list of vehicle supply sources in Greece:

1.   Agricola (vehicle)
2.   AK Hellas (vehicle)
3.   Alta (vehicles)
4.   Atlas (light trucks)
5.   Attica (automobiles)
6.   AutoDiana (vehicle)
7.   Autokinitoviomihania Ellados (vehicle)
8.   Automeccanica (vehicle)
9.   Balkania (vehicle)
10.   Biamax (vehicle)
11.   BIOMAN (lifting devices)
12.   Biotechnia Ellinikon Trikyklon (vehicle)
13.   C.AR (automobiles)
14.   Diana (agricultural machinery)
15.   DIM (automobiles)
16.   Dinap (trucks)
17.   EBIAM (vehicle)
18.   ELBO (vehicle)
19.   Emporiki Autokiniton (vehicle)
20.   Hercules (vehicles)
21.   MAVA-Renault (vehicle)
22.   MEBEA (vehicle)
23.   Motoemil (vehicle)
24.   MotorCar (trucks)
25.   Namco (automobiles)
26.   Neorion (vehicle)
27.   Pan-Car (vehicle)
28.   Pantelemidis (vehicle)
29.   Petropoulos (vehicle)
30.   Pitsos (vehicle)
31.   Record (agricultural vehicles)
32.   Ros (vehicles)
33.   SAM (vehicles)
34.   Saracakis (vehicle)
35.   Scavas (vehicle)
36.   Sfakianakis (vehicle)
37.   Styl Kar (vehicle)
38.   Tangalakis-Temax (vehicle)