Helping with Adventurer Party Management - Chapter 167

“So… what exactly is a factory? I don’t really understand…”

What I appreciate about talking with Sara is that she openly admits when she doesn’t understand something. It makes it easier for me to explain.

“Well, let’s see… Right now, in our workshop, we have about 20 people making one type of shoe, right? Imagine that, but with 10 lines of production.”

“Eh!? There’s no way that many could fit into this building!”

“That’s why we build a dedicated building. It’s ten times the size of this one and designed so you can see from one end to the other.”

“I’ve never seen a building that big, except for a church…”

Since Sara can’t quite imagine it, I describe what a functioning factory looks like.

“Just imagine for a moment. In the morning, at a set time, many people arrive to work. Everyone flips their attendance board over and lines up to work in their designated row. The work in our company is divided into detailed tasks, so even people without much strength, like women or children, can work in some areas. They are paid for the work they do. Shoes are packed into boxes and sent out by carriage as soon as they’re finished. It’s not just for this city; in other cities and other countries, adventurers, pioneers, and everyone will start wearing our company’s shoes. As the day ends, the workers in the rows flip their attendance boards over and clock out. The building becomes quiet, and only those preparing for the next day remain, doing tasks like cleaning or counting parts. This routine is repeated every day with 200 people.”

“…I can’t quite imagine it,” Sara says unsurely.

Well, it’s understandable. Asking her to imagine an organization that doesn’t exist in this world is unreasonable. My explanation might not be clear. Instead of describing what I can imagine, I should explain in terms she can understand. So, I decide to change my approach.

“Have you ever baked bread in your village?”

“Yes! We do! It costs too much for firewood, so we bake bread in the village’s big oven only during festivals, weddings, and special occasions.”

I see. Sara’s obsession with white bread might come from it being a special treat only available during festivals. I personally like barley porridge quite a bit. Anyway, if she has this knowledge, it should be easier to explain.

“Imagine if you wanted to deliver freshly baked bread to everyone in the world every day.”

“Oh?”

As expected, she is immediately interested.

“What can be done to make bread at a high speed with the help of everyone in the village?”

“Well, you’d remove the husks from the harvested wheat, blow them away, then grind the wheat with a water wheel or mill, knead the dough, let it rest… then bake it and wrap it up. Everyone in the village would share the tasks, I suppose?”

“So, how much bread can you bake?”

“Well… if it’s for everyone in the village in one day, about 200 loaves?”

“What if you were told to bake 500 loaves?”

“Eh! Hmm… I’d get the men and children to help out. It’s better to have more strength for tasks like removing the husks or transporting wheat bags to the mill. Even children could wrap the bread.”

“What if you were told to bake 1,000 loaves?”

“…I’m starting to understand. We’d probably need to bring in extra help from the neighboring village. We’d need to build a new oven and bake there as well. To avoid issues if it rains, we might also need to put up some roofs in certain areas.”

“If you’re bringing in people from the neighboring village, their customs might be different, right?”

“Yeah, bread varies from village to village…size, shape, baking method, etc. But we should discuss and make it the same, right?”

I nod and pick up a shoe from the workbench in the workshop.

“This is like the bread.”

I then pick up the parchment used for the quality inspection manual.

“This represents the agreement to standardize the bread through discussion.”

I turn around and point at the entire workshop.

“The system for baking a large amount of bread every day with many people is what a factory is. I want to make shoes like baking bread and deliver them to all the adventurers and pioneers in the world.”

At this point, it seems that Sara is beginning to grasp a vague image of what a factory is.