Helping with Adventurer Party Management - Chapter 164

Having been away from the office for about a week, my main work piles up. It’s stacked high near the ceiling of the workshop, literally physically stacked, compressing both the visual space and the area of the workshop. It’s a stack of boxes containing the Guardian’s shoes waiting for final inspection.

“Well, it can’t be helped,” I say.

“Because Kenji insists on doing all the inspections himself,” Sara says, pouting.. 

It’s true that I handle the quality inspection process personally. I would like to delegate this task to others, but inspection is the last line of defense in maintaining the quality of our products. If we let sloppy products reach the market, it would erode trust in our products.

When I was a consultant, I used to tell small business owners to avoid taking on all the work themselves, but as they say, it’s easier said than done. In my case, it’s not going very well.

The shoe assembly work entrusted to other craftsmen can be expanded in the future. However, as long as I am the only one handling the final quality inspection, the production volume of shoes will be limited. This is known as a bottleneck.

This is known as a bottleneck.

Since there are no inspection machines in this world, it basically means increasing the number of personnel. However, training someone with the same commitment to quality as mine is difficult. This is because only those who have met customers—Sara, Gorgoro, and I—know how the Guardian’s shoes are used and what level of quality is required.

“I won’t do it. I’m not suited for such meticulous work,” Sara says.

“I understand. I’ve entrusted Gorgoro with the development of new shoes, so I’ll leave that to you.”

Since Gorgoro is primarily responsible for technical development, I plan to have him handle the development of the shoes we’re going to release with the church. Sara, as my secretary, will also need to accompany me for business activities.

The issue is how to make the craftsmen in the workshop, who have never left the city, understand the life of adventurers. In other words, how to instill the customer’s image into the manufacturing process.

Come to think of it, the craftsmen might never have walked outdoors wearing the Guardian’s shoes. Alternatively, it might be possible to focus on thoroughly preparing the quality inspection manuals, to the extent that the craftsmen don’t need to have an adventurer’s image at all.

If these were mass-produced metal parts, I might consider methods like sampling inspections. However, with the current production volume, it’s still feasible to inspect every single item, which is another dilemma.

Moreover, since the shoes are handcrafted, there are many evaluation criteria that are difficult to quantify, such as color and comfort. Also, measurements such as the adhesive strength of the glue and how much force the heel cushion can withstand before failing are required. To conduct such measurements, destructive testing, which involves applying force until the product breaks, is necessary, as well as developing testing equipment for this purpose.

It might be overkill in a world without industrial standards, but to expand the business, we must move away from the realm of artisanal craftsmanship as soon as possible. I’m expanding my network and seeking advice, but our core strengths are the revolutionary new product, the Guardian’s shoes, and the manufacturing process that allows us to produce them affordably. Since our scale is small, we need to focus on our core business and products to avoid losing everything.

Both companies create revolutionary products that don’t just respond to market demands but actually create new markets.

The goal is ambitious, but the current issue is…

“I don’t really understand what Kenji is talking about.”

“Well, that’s to be expected.”

If even Sara, who has been working closely with me, doesn’t understand, then no one else will either. Expanding the business requires nurturing management talent, and the fact is that developing good managers is not easy.

Even if the goal is distant, if we don’t solidify our footing step by step, we will stumble. I need to get things organized here.