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authorities wanted to
move from that place
to some other areas.
Taking advantage of
this, Mr Lieu took
27,000 square metres
of land on rent for a
term of twenty years and started his project. The factory
started manufacture in 1998.
The factory was built with different areas such as
Withering Troughs, Processing Room, Sorting Room,
Packing Room, Office and Stores for materials.
Machineries were invested in.The factory also organized
its own Management Board, which in conformity with
the law of Enterprise, selected and trained many skilled
workers in manufacturing and grading of teas.This helped
the factory in exporting teas to South-east Asian
countries and some to the European market too. The
expansion work progressed well and with a capacity of
only 6,000 kg of green leaf per day in the year 1998, it
went up to 20,000 kg per day in 2000. From 2006 to
2009, the factory continued expanding for exports and
reached a capacity of 40,000 kg green leaf per day.
Simultaneously, the factory also carried out the project of
‘Component of Clean Manufacture in Industry’ under the
Ministry of Industry & Commerce. Mr Lieu, along with
his wife, two sons and two daughters, personally
supervised the day to day running of Khanh Hoa.
Within the factory premises, Mr Lieu built a beautiful
wooden bungalow where he lived with his family. Best
quality wooden pillars were brought from several
Provinces, and it apparently cost him about $ 40,000 to
build the house in 1998. This was much more than the
expense of a concrete house at that time.
Khanh Hoa also has three ponds covering 5,000 square
metres – one for fish, another for turtles and the third one
as a reserve pond. After the takeover, PhuBen sold fish
worth $ 2,900 in the first year; 50% of the money was
ploughed back into putting some special types of fish in
the pond. All along the ponds, very high yielding litchi
trees have been planted. The
harvested fruit is distributed
amongst all the staff.
Khanh Hoa also has a beautifully laid out garden in the
front yard of the bungalow, which has twelve different
varieties of bonsais that were collected from different
parts of Vietnam. A fountain made of limestone brought
from Da Nang, with a variety of goldfish swimming
around, adds to the visual appeal.
The pathway to Khanh Hoa house and the factory is
planted with palm trees on one side and jasmine shrubs
on the other, which fill the air with a lovely fragrance.
Khanh Hoa is self-
reliant with its own
canteen which serves
tasty and healthy
food.
Organic vegetables
grown
in
the
compound are used,
thus enabling the
workers to procure
meals at a subsidized rate. A unique rice cooker caters to
the ten staff members and sixty workers.
A Russian model Army Jeep used by an Army General
was gifted to Khanh Hoa during the Vietnamese war.
Good care is taken of the vehicle, which is in perfect
running condition.
As is oft found in family run business ventures, trouble
starts brewing once the patriarch gets on in years and the
children move on to greener
pastures.Mr
Lieu too found
it difficult to keep the company economically viable.
PhuBen Tea Company acquired Khanh Hoa on 9 May
2013 and started manufacturing from the 28th of the
same month, producing 6,00,667 kg of made tea that year.
It is a 100% Black Orthodox tea factory, which
underwent major renovations during the cold weather of
2013/14. The processing room, which was originally
divided into three rooms, was broken to accommodate
on-line Rolling, Fermenting and Drying systems, with
three CMFs. All efforts were made to increase the
capacity and 9,50,384 kg of made tea was produced in
2014. A glass partition separates the processing and the
drying areas.
Mr Lieu’s Bungalow
The Garden
10 January 2016
January 2016 11
The Rice Cooker