Furnas is indeed in a state of chaos, because Hexin's president was currently still Huang Xuan, and he didn't do any work. Its subsidiaries had been in disorderly operation except for Shengfeng, which was still in good operation because of Huang Xuan's remaining influence and the excellent accounting management of the United Bank of Switzerland (UBS).
Huang Xuan comforted the department managers in particular. Since he didn't want to spend much time in Brazil, he only learned about the performance of the power department and totally ignored the sales and transmission departments.
Dr. Kelly was extremely annoyed by Huang Xuan's careless attitude, but since Huang was his boss, he couldn't do anything but say, "Mr. Huang, the company is in a bad situation. If this continues, it may lead to heavy losses."
Personally, he was speechless about Huang Xuan, who could make beneficial assets lose money so easily. Nobody knew about the accounts of Furnas after it had been divided into three parts except the accounting company. Its business and information channels had been in a mess. Kelly thought Huang Xuan was worried that Furnas might become another Shengfeng, so he thought Huang Xuan was a genius to come up with such a destructive plan. In two years, the company might go bankrupt, then there would be nothing to worry about.
Genius Huang was complacent. He connected the energy chain with the factory, transferred a few elites from service department to another department and claimed that in the following days the energy would belong to Liba Company, a fly-by-night company he had just registered.
Huang Xuan even revised the authority system. Right now, only Huang Xuan and a few managers were authorized to adjust the electric machinery. The statistics of the electricity consumption and demand were even divided into parts.
The authority was mainly embodied on the computer. Huang Xuan was too busy to restructure the company and he thought it was unnecessary. However, when he took out the draft, the high-ranking executives of Furnas including Kelly greatly objected.
The former president of Furnas had resigned a long time ago. Brenner, the vice president of Furnas, also the highest-ranking executive of it, was short and fat, in his fifties, with puffy eyelids, like a goldfish that had just had a bad cosmetic surgery. "Mr. Huang, Furnas used to have a wonderful performance and satisfactory returns," he looked at others and said.
They were objecting to reform, which was beyond Huang Xuan's bottom line. What Huang Xuan needed was an inefficient management system, not performance and returns. Judging from their appearance, guys with puffy eyes looked evil and sly to Huang Xuan. Huang Xuan sat back on the chair and said, "Mr. Brenner, I know this measure might affect the executive efficiency of the company, but I need your understanding and cooperation."
Huang Xuan sounded blunt. Zhang Xinyi would have put it more tactfully. But Huang Xuan was an impatient teenager who had just earned billions of dollars in just 10 days. He needed the base and Rolin more than a company making just 30 million USD a year.
It was Brenner's first meeting with Huang Xuan. Thinking for the interest of the company, he continued, "Mr. Huang, I must consider the interest of the company. The company will be like a pool of stagnant water once this system is put into practice and it will be extremely difficult to increase the profits."
Huang Xuan was displeased with his words. He had asked for Brenner's understanding, but Brenner mentioned the interest of the company in front of him. Huang Xuan thought Brenner was disobeying his order. "Mr. Brenner, this is my company. The shareholder of the company is sitting right in front of you. It is the shareholder's will that you need to think about, not other things." Huang Xuan would have cursed if he were not talking to some old men.
Neither Dutoit nor Kelly knew Portuguese, but when the interpreter said the word "will", the Swiss face changed colors. He rose slightly from his chair and said, "Mr. Huang, it is very normal for people to disagree with each other. We have just met and will have a lot of time to know more about each other in the future."
Huang Xuan was reluctant to wait, but thinking of the fact that he indeed hadn't thought about anybody except the base when he had modified the system, he said in a softened tone, "Then let's launch a pilot project. If it proves bad, we will consider other plans." Huang Xuan thought as long as the pilot project began, when to end it would be totally up to him.
Brenner knew that he had hit his boss' bottom line, so he said unwillingly, "Then which department shall we begin with?"
"The sales department, because they have the most branches," someone said immediately.
"The electric power department." Huang Xuan ignored the man.
"It is unfeasible." Brenner forced a smile and wanted to add something, but Huang Xuan stood up and responded, "Mr. Brenner, I am glad that you care for the company so much but I have my own thoughts."
Hearing this, everybody remained silent. Kelly looked at Dutoit, who shook his head. So far, Huang Xuan had resolved the power problem of the base.
The installed capacity of Furnas Company was nine million kW, and the normal load was seven million kW. With a daily transmission capacity of 40 million kW, it would take the company only one week to meet Rolin's demand. Huang Xuan knew well about this. "Mr. Brenner, what do you think of increasing the installed capacity?"
"It is good, but it will have a great impact on the company, including the circuit, purchasing and sales. Meanwhile, since there have been so many power plants that have gone into production this year, the profit is declining."
If it hadn't been for the decreasing profit, the Portuguese wouldn't have sold Furnas to him. Huang Xuan said to himself. He hit his fingernails on the glass and then said, "Make a plan for me. I am thinking of increasing the capacity by over 30%."
No one objected. Huang Xuan was about to leave when a man suddenly said, "Mr. Huang, I have a written plan for you."
It was a bug-eyed man with dark skin and a big nose, more than 40 years old.
"This is Witt with the development department." Brenner introduced him right away.
Witt put on a false smile and introduced himself by saying, "Witt Stewart." He took out a folder of at least one hundred pages and handed it to Huang Xuan. "Mr. Huang, actually, the company has been investing in new energy before you took over Furnas and has made progress. However, due to the tight funds, the research has reached a bottleneck."
Seeing that Huang Xuan wasn't going to read it, he urged, "Mr. Huang, we are at the forefront of bio-energy in the world. You will see bio-diesel oil meeting PS 121 standard in at most eight months." PS 121 was a provisional standard of bio-diesel oil by America. Since Brazilian bio-fuel was mainly sold to America, this standard was also applied in Brazil.
Huang Xuan shook his head. He didn't think the prospect of bio-diesel was promising. He would rather travel to another plane than purchase grains here. But then it occurred to him that this would be a good excuse.
Witt was very disappointed by Huang Xuan's reaction. However, at this point Huang Xuan opened the folder and asked, "What are you going to use to produce bio-diesel oil?"
"Sugarcane. Corn will also do," Witt answered at once.
"I think corn is better." Huang Xuan nodded his head casually. He looked at Witt who was confused and said, "How much do you need to make the bio-diesel oil meet the whatever standard you just mentioned?"
"Seven million dollars."
Huang Xuan pouted. According to the way his father's lab spent money, the number was supposed to be tripled, meaning the expense was actually 21 million. That was a lot of money. Huang Xuan flicked the folder and asked Dutoit, "Which account should I use if I want to give him this money?"
"Any account is OK. So is Furnas'."
"Three million first." Huang Xuan handed the folder to Issac and said to Witt, "Are you the head of the development department?"
"Er, yes." Furnas had been affiliated to the National Power Company of Brazil. The new boss was unwilling to invest in research and development after it had been sold. Witt had devoted all his energy to the lab of this company. All his work would be for nothing if he left this company. That was the last thing he wanted in the world. Watching colleagues achieve success, he was bitter inside.
Huang Xuan didn't notice Witt's confusion and continued, "How many people are there in your department? How many projects can you conduct at the same time? How many projects are you conducting right now?"
"There are more than 120 people. We are focused on bio-diesel oil."
Huang Xuan nodded and handed Witt his name card. "Call me when you make progress. Only when you make progress."
"OK. OK."
Seeing Witt didn't say anything else, Huang Xuan straightened his cuffs and added, "Mr. Witt, I am more interested in Coal to Liquid (CTL). If you can, pay some attention to it."
"OK," Witt replied in hesitation. CTL was South Africa's dominant project. For China, which was endowed with rich coal, it was a path through this golden age of crude oil.
Walking out of the headquarters of Furnas, Huang Xuan asked Rolin, "Can you help me with some new energy technology? It doesn't have to be very advanced as long as it can replace oil. We will make a fortune even if the price is under 50 dollars per barrel. And we won't have to travel to other planes anymore."
"The energy in the buffer zone will have to be increased by more than 10 times if you want to use this technology. You still have to travel to other planes to get more energy."
Huang Xuan had forgotten about this issue. Seeing Dutoit come up, he asked him, "Does the United Bank of Switzerland take diamonds?"