Chapter 58 - 58 Clothespin
Steve, Cyril, Nick, and Emmanuel were huddled together in the reception room of the First Factory.
"Can't we commercialize these clothespins?"
When Emmanuel said that, Steve and Cyril made grim faces.
"The spring steel wire material is still low in production volume, so it won't come around to our territory. Moreover, military research takes priority, and if we make civilian goods, I think permission won't be granted."
Cyril explained the steelmaking situation to Emmanuel.
Research on springs as materials was also being conducted, and spring steel wire suitable for clothespins did exist. However, because steel plate production was prioritized, that production volume was not large.
And that small amount of spring steel was used for military research, so it wouldn't circulate in the market.
Therefore, Steve was making clothespins with his own magic and distributing them to his territory and acquaintances. Emmanuel was one of those people, but due to its convenience, he was convinced this would sell.
Note: The clothespins Steve makes with magic are clothespins made only from wire material.
"You can't make them without materials. I can't keep making them with magic."
"Don't you have Safety Shoes?"
"That's a different story because it prioritizes safety. You don't get hurt even without clothespins."
Emmanuel brought up the Safety Shoes, but Steve rejected it flatly. It's not just Archibalt Territory that lacks materials. They don't exist throughout the country, so if they could make clothespins, it would be a monopoly, and considerable profit could be expected.
Nick, who had been listening to that talk, interjected.
"Well, our guys also treasure the clothespins they got from Wakasama, so everyone would be happy if they had these. Being able to make something that people are happy with is the greatest reward for the maker."
When told that, Steve's heart wavered. However, there were several issues with mass production.
"I'm glad they're happy, but since I make them with magic, I don't need tools, but making these by human hands is quite troublesome. It won't become cheap either."
"Well, I've experienced that."
Once, Steve and Nick had prototyped clothespins. It was a clothespin mechanism where a spring was attached to two pieces of wood joined together.
In this world without resin molding, even making clothespins takes effort, so it can't be done cheaply like in Japan. When weighing the effort of hanging laundry against that price, there is the question of how many humans would actually pay money.
"Then why doesn't Wakasama make them with magic?"
"Well, that's true."
"There shouldn't be any inconvenience. If sales increase, the factory's management will stabilize too."
"No, that's funds for territory management. If I put the sales of products I make with magic into the factory's sales, won't the income and expenditure just become unclear?"
"If the factory's profit grows, my salary goes up."
"Isn't that the only merit?"
While saying that, thinking that keeping magic that recovers when sleeping unused every day was a waste, he agreed to make clothespins with magic.
Copper prices are still crawling in the low range, but iron has considerable demand, so Steve is still wholesaling iron he made with magic to Emmanuel. Considering that, he judged that the option of not selling clothespins made with magic was strange.
"Then, I'll wholesale clothespins via regular shipment, so please decide the price yourself. With magic, there's no cost price."
"Understood. My Lord. However, originally magic is something so expensive that a price cannot be attached."
Emmanuel bowed his head to Steve and said that, and Steve smiled bitterly.
"Other mages are too stingy. Magic power recovers anyway, so isn't it a loss not to use it?"
"That's something only My Lord can say because your magic power volume is huge. Other mages have little magic power usable per day, so they don't use it in preparation for emergencies."
"Emergencies don't happen that often, though."
When the clothespin talk ended, Nick confided that he had a consultation with Steve.
"Wakasama, actually I have a consultation regarding the factory."
"What is it?"
"One of the workers has a bad memory, can't calculate, and can't read characters. Yet he makes many mistakes, and due to complaints from other workers, he can't be made to work together."
"That's troubling."
When Steve thought about running the factory, he had imagined this happening to some extent. Because he had experience hiring people in his previous life who were useless. Saying they are useless, firing them is impossible under Japanese law, but in the Kingdom of Cascade, it's not like that.
"So, how is the person themselves? Do they not notice, do they notice and worry, or do they not care?"
"That guy wants to quit the job immediately and return to his original place, but his wife is excellent. Since he himself has motivation, even if he says 'husband will quit job and return to original house', she won't listen."
"What does the wife do?"
"She does line work, learns quickly and hands are fast. Even if put in as support where vacancies occur due to holidays, she learns the work quickly, so I'm helped."
According to Nick's talk, the husband is useless and wants to quit, but the wife is excellent and wants to continue working.
The factory currently has no retirees, but Steve's thought is that if they want to quit, they can anytime. However, if they quit, there is no guarantee of life afterwards. It's land unsuitable for agriculture, and even if doing farming, you need to clear land and arrange irrigation, so one person can't do anything. Even if starting some business, someone with bad memory and can't calculate shouldn't succeed. So, there's nothing to do but return to where they lived before moving. However, in this case, the wife wants to continue working. If so, I'd say divorce, but that's cruel so I can't do it, so it became a consultation with Steve.
And Steve's experience in his previous life was that employees who became uncomfortable left and it ended, and patterns like this where they seem to stay without quitting were unexperienced.
After worrying for a while, he remembered that in his previous life, right before that employee quit, he was only making them clean.
"That's it, let's make them clean."
"Cleaning, like cleaning up that trash?"
"Yes. The factory has been operating for a while, so dirt accumulates and dust gathers in places. Also, toilet cleaning is done by workers in order, but since they do it during work hours, it leaves holes in the work, doesn't it?"
"Ah, if so, workers can work continuously, and even if cleaning is incomplete, it won't become defective."
In town factories, toilet cleaning is normally done by employees in order, but in somewhat large factories, there are cleaning-specialist employees or external contractors. Combining factory and cafeteria, it has become a certain scale, so it's not strange for specialists to exist for such cleaning. Steve thought he also wanted General Affairs as a bonus.
Salary calculation is done by Steve and Christina, but when going on long trips like before, the proxy Nick couple, due to busyness, start quarreling as husband and wife. Indirect departments like Accounting and General Affairs, find suitable people, and let them take over quickly.
Nick's consultation was the trigger, and an unexpected realization was obtained.
The next day, while Steve was making clothespins, Nick came.
"Wakasama, persuasion was successful. When asked whether to quit or cleaning work, he chose cleaning work. He stopped returning to original place alone after divorce, and wife remaining in the factory is confirmed now."
"For now, that's good. From now on, that worker will be tough."
"Well, yes. Because they will be looked down upon by other workers."
"Ultimately, workers making products earn money, so they tend to think they're great, but the factory doesn't run just by that. Cleaning is dirty work, looked down upon even more, but if someone doesn't do it, the work environment becomes dirty. Accounting is the same. Even if you sell things, if you don't collect money, you can't pay salaries. But everyone can't understand that. So, workers who take up cleaning work will be mocked."
"If seeing that makes them think 'I don't want to be like that' and focus on work, we welcome it. If not, workers will start again with 'slow' and 'many mistakes'. I didn't even think of that when running a workshop alone."
Nick scratched his back of head vigorously. Saying he understood well the feeling of the workshop master who employed many people, he sighed.
Steve has experience, but manufacturing industry earns by making things, so inevitably field workers tend to say "We eat thanks to us." That is also correct, but also wrong.
Sales, logistics, production management, quality management, accounting, general affairs, etc., only then does the organization stand. No one is great. However, reality is not like that, and that makes organization management difficult. Steve and Nick are facing that problem right now.
"Next time we move, we must think of some countermeasures."
"Still recruiting migrants?"
"We'll have to. Domestic agricultural production is planned to increase from now on. If so, the number of farmers will be too many as is. As a result, people who can't eat from agriculture will flow into urban areas. But in urban areas too, they won't have jobs. Then, coming out as a receiver will be this factory."
Agricultural production was definitely growing. Research on soil improvement including fertilizer was sprouting, and effects that can be called Green Revolution will appear in a few years. If so, crop prices will fall.
Added to that, if the financial social system Steve proposed permeates the monetary economy, people who can't eat from agriculture will appear. That they will flow into cities seeking jobs was predictable for Steve who knows the flow of the Industrial Revolution. And, since labor demand won't increase easily, he predicted accepting unemployed people will be Steve's factory.
If unemployed increase, it leads to social unrest. Aurora will surely request Steve to accept workers before that happens. Nick couldn't understand even hearing that.
When the two's conversation just ended, Christina came at the right timing.
"Steve-sama, a request for additional clothespins came from my father at my parents' home."
"Good reputation. Shall I go see my father-in-law's face for the first time in a while?"
Steve had also given clothespins to Earl Macintosh. The Earl couldn't understand its value, but it was very popular with servants. When he gave clothespins to his younger brother, that reputation circulated among relatives, and pleas to the Earl wanting it for their own homes reached him.
The Earl, who thought it was currently non-saleable, sent a letter to his daughter to respond to those pleas.
Note: Emmanuel is already selling clothespins, but days are shallow and consumed entirely in Western region, so general sales contact hadn't reached the Northern region.
At this time, Steve was lightly thinking of visiting Christina's parents' home for the first time in a while. Never dreaming he would be entangled in a big conspiracy after this.