Chapter 123: Second-hand Equipment

To be fair, Lu Kun’s move was indeed a bit underhanded.

Therefore, after the fact, he dismissed everyone who opposed him, while those who agreed received a base salary increase starting the following month. Although Lu Kun knew that most of them did not rely on a fixed salary to make a living, this gesture at least served to demonstrate his goodwill.

Everything remained calm. Most of the rank-and-file employees were not even aware that this had occurred within the group. The management did not dare to make any noise about it either; after all, there were plenty of people eyeing their positions. Lu Kun masterfully demonstrated the reality that "the world keeps spinning regardless of who is missing." The vacated positions were filled that very same day by others who were more than happy to step up. It was all quite terrifying.

***

The Huakun Group had successfully secured loans from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Angui Credit Union, totaling 3.5 million RMB. These funds had been transferred to the headquarters' account several days prior. As of now, the Huakun Group had nearly 6 million RMB in liquid assets.

This amount was more than enough for Huakun to completely capture the remaining six prefecture-level cities in Angui Province. However, Lu Kun understood that one cannot get fat from a single mouthful. If he could manage to open all the planned branches before the first half of the year, he would be counting his blessings. If he were to spread his resources too thin all at once, Huakun would undoubtedly descend into chaos, likely falling apart before it could ever grow strong.

With the old shops generating consistent profit and the new ones unable to expand rapidly, Huakun had a large surplus of cash. Lu Kun, naturally, had to find a legitimate way to divert these funds.

***

"Chen Xiangyang, how have the negotiations with the factory gone regarding the instant noodle production line equipment?" Lu Kun asked, sitting up straight as he spoke into the phone.

The Chen Xiangyang in question was the former leader of the procurement team sent to Shenzhen to purchase the laser barcode scanning system. Shortly after finishing his training in Shenzhen, Chen had been abruptly dismissed from the Huakun Group by Lu Kun. At the time, Chen was terrified, thinking he had botched his boss's assignment. He never expected that, immediately after completing his resignation paperwork, he would be transferred to another company owned by his boss, with both his salary and position seeing a significant boost: Master Kong Food and Beverage Group.

Although the name of this new company was decent enough, at the moment, it was effectively a shell; the team hadn't even been assembled yet. This was unavoidable, as the formal procedures for the thirty acres of land Lu Kun had requested from the provincial leadership for the factory were still ongoing.

Lu Kun had already decided on the first flagship product for Master Kong Food and Beverage Group: Master Kong Braised Beef Noodles. While experts in the future would go on at length about how instant noodles were unhealthy, in this era, instant noodles "with beef" might just become a beautiful sight—a nutritional supplement in the eyes of consumers.

"Boss, they are asking for a very high price..." Chen replied hesitantly on the other end of the line.

"Is the price for the equipment from Taiwan also very high?" Lu Kun tapped his knuckles on the desk and continued to ask.

He had been prepared for the Japanese to demand a high price. At present, Japan was still riding high, believing that their domestic economic downturn was merely a short-term adjustment and nothing of real consequence. Japan, not yet having experienced the pain of its "lost decades," possessed an inherent sense of superiority when facing China at this time. One had to be extra cautious when buying equipment from the Japanese. The products they sold to consumers were of high quality, but that did not guarantee the equipment they sold to domestic manufacturers would be the same. On the contrary, the probability of encountering issues was extremely high, and the subsequent maintenance fees could end up costing more than the equipment itself.

Lu Kun preferred to place his order with Taiwan; at least they wouldn't leave so many hidden traps that would force him to beg them for help later.

"The price from Taiwan is even higher, but they have promised that if the equipment itself develops faults within three years, they will cover repairs and replacements. If issues arise within three months, they will accept returns," Chen reported, spilling the details like beans.

"Oh? Isn't that an 'abridged' version of the three guarantees?" Lu Kun said, brightening up to himself.

Chen Xiangyang: "..."

In this day and age, most manufacturers followed the principle of "no returns or exchanges once the goods leave the factory." Non-established brands certainly wouldn't dare make such a promise. Of course, this also had to do with the current environment. Most domestic firms were still essentially workshops and lacked the capacity to provide such after-sales services. To protect local industry, the government naturally discouraged foreign-invested or joint-venture enterprises from offering these three guarantees to domestic consumers, as it was seen as unfair competition.

However, the government was not entirely rigid. For high-tech products, precision machinery, and manufacturing equipment, the state actually encouraged foreign and joint-venture companies to provide these services to local manufacturers.

***

"Hmm, let me think about this. Your procurement team should continue to talk to both sides and probe to see where their bottom line is," Lu Kun instructed after a moment of thought. Even for him, a multi-million-dollar deal was not something to be decided rashly.

***

Lu Kun was terrible at naming things, so he simply hijacked the name "Master Kong" for his trademark. He found himself looking forward to the day "Li Gui meets Li Kui" (the day the impostor meets the genuine article).

China had implemented its first Trademark Law back in 1982. Although domestic companies didn't pay much attention to it at the time, as someone from the future, Lu Kun knew the benefits of registering a trademark.

In truth, there were already dozens of instant noodle manufacturers in China, but they were all small-time operations just scraping by, never amounting to anything significant. Their equipment was practically ancient, consisting of machinery discarded in the 1950s and 60s. Lu Kun intended to purchase production lines discarded by the West in the 1980s. They were a bit dated, but they were cost-effective. Once bought, if he were to brazenly label them as the most advanced instant noodle line in the country, no one could really deny it.

Buying second-hand goods was nothing out of the ordinary. Most domestic equipment was just stuff discarded by the West during their deindustrialization process, and the latest equipment was very difficult for China to acquire. Even second-hand equipment could not directly enter the Chinese market due to the American embargo. The issue of ideological confrontation was much more severe in this era than in the future. Most of these second-hand machines flowed into the mainland through Taiwan.

Luxury goods flowing in from Hong Kong and second-hand machinery from Taiwan—this was a defining characteristic of China in the 1990s.