Chapter 39: The Performance of the Soap Factory
Thirty minutes later, Ernest, along with his parents, exited the office of the Orion Realty.
They haven’t purchased the house yet, rather, they made an agreement doing so in the next two to three months as he doesn’t have the downpayment required to enter into financing.
"You are really going to buy that son?" Victor asked.
"You see the environment around here dad, it’s cleaner and peaceful here than our home. Though I don’t mean to degrade where we came from, we have to move forward if we want to progress. So yes in the next three months we will be living in Orion. Now, we have a job to do. We will drop mom off to the house."
***
Three months later, the month is now June 21st, 1510.
The production and the operation of the Helmarte Soap Works has been steady. There were a bit hiccups during the production process when equipments began to show wear from continuous operation.
Actually, Ernest expected that.
The factory had been operating almost every single day for months now.
Thousands of soap bars moved through the production lines weekly.
The waterwheel turned continuously.
The drive shafts rotated constantly.
The belts stretched and contracted daily.
Eventually, something would fail.
That was simply the reality of industrial manufacturing.
And unfortunately...
Several things did.
One morning, Ernest arrived at the factory only to hear shouting coming from the mechanical room.
"Stop the wheel!"
"STOP THE WHEEL!"
The moment he entered, he immediately saw the problem.
One of the secondary transmission belts had snapped.
The thick leather belt now hung uselessly from the overhead pulley system while workers scrambled below.
Without that belt, one entire production kettle lost its mechanical mixer.
Which meant production immediately dropped.
"How long has it been down?" Ernest asked.
One of the technicians quickly answered.
"About twenty minutes."
"Damage?"
"Just the belt."
Good.
Actually, that was a relatively cheap failure.
The replacement belt cost around 2,500 riels and another 300 riels worth of labor.
Annoying.
But manageable.
The bigger issue was lost production time.
Every hour the kettle remained inactive cost money.
Lots of money.
"Get the replacement from storage," Ernest ordered.
The technicians immediately moved.
Actually, unlike most factory owners, Ernest did not simply stand around giving orders.
His engineering background made him naturally curious.
So he climbed directly onto the maintenance platform with the technicians.
The men still found that strange.
The owner helping repair machinery?
That almost never happened.
Still, Ernest carefully inspected the pulley assembly.
The problem became obvious immediately.
Excessive wear.
The alignment shifted slightly over time.
The belt edge continuously rubbed against the pulley flange until eventually it failed.
"There’s the problem."
One technician looked over.
"What is it?"
"The pulley isn’t aligned."
Actually, he grabbed a measuring rod afterward.
The offset measured nearly two centimeters.
Huge.
At least for a rotating transmission system.
"Loosen that bracket."
The technician obeyed.
Several adjustments later, the shaft alignment improved significantly.
Then the replacement belt was installed.
The entire repair took approximately one hour and fifteen minutes.
Lost production value:
Around 3,000 soap bars.
Estimated revenue impact:
Approximately 350,000 riels.
Actually, seeing those numbers hurt.
Industrial equipment failures always cost more than the actual repair itself.
And unfortunately...
The belt failure was not the only problem that month.
A week later, another issue emerged.
Human error.
Honestly, Ernest preferred mechanical failures.
Machines failed logically.
Humans sometimes did not.
Inside Kettle Number Two, a newly hired production worker accidentally misread a measurement chart.
Instead of adding eighty liters of filtered ash solution...
The worker added one hundred twenty.
Forty liters extra.
At first nobody noticed.
The batch looked normal.
The mixing process completed normally.
The molding process completed normally.
Then the quality inspectors began testing the finished bars.
Immediately, problems appeared.
The soap became too harsh.
Customers using it could experience skin irritation.
The entire batch became unsellable.
Actually, when the report reached Ernest, he immediately checked the figures.
One failed batch.
4,500 bars.
Common worker soap.
Production cost per bar:
Around 28 riels.
Total production loss:
126,000 riels.
And that did not include labor and overhead costs.
Meanwhile the responsible worker looked absolutely terrified while standing in the office.
"I’m sorry, sir."
Honestly, Ernest could tell the mistake was genuine.
The worker wasn’t lazy.
He wasn’t careless.
He simply lacked experience.
Still, the loss remained real.
Instead of firing him immediately like many factory owners would...
Ernest implemented another solution.
Training.
After reviewing the incident, he discovered something interesting.
The measurement chart itself confused several workers.
Not just one.
Which meant the system failed too.
Not only the employee.
So Ernest redesigned the charts.
Color coding.
Larger markings.
Simplified instructions.
Visual indicators.
Something workers could understand instantly.
The result?
Production errors dropped dramatically afterward.
Actually, that single improvement saved more money than firing ten workers ever would.
By the end of June, the Helmarte Soap Works reported the following:
Monthly production:
172,000 soap bars.
Total revenue:
19,420,000 riels.
Operational expenses:
14,300,000 riels.
Equipment repairs:
43,000 riels.
Product losses from defective batches:
286,000 riels.
Net monthly profit:
4,791,000 riels.
Actually, despite the losses, the company remained significantly ahead of projections.
The demand simply continued growing.
Not only in Helmarte anymore.
Soap shipments now reached neighboring towns and trade centers throughout the Kingdom of Belfast.
And sitting inside his office while reviewing the latest figures, Ernest was suddenly disturbed by the entrance of Hollen.
"I saw the financial forecast, we are in the green," Hollen said. "So why aren’t we moving forward with the investment?"
"Because, lately, there have been failures in terms of human operation and machine," Ernest said. "We have to optimize those first before we even think of expanding in other major cities. Our factory here is the blueprint, and we also need time for our workers here to gain experience."
"Experience? They have been working here for seven months, what more experience do they need?"
"To pass on the knowledge and experience to new works in the future branches," Ernest stated simply. "I’m the Chief Operating Officer, when I say it’s not ready, you better listen."
Hollen walked over to Ernest’s desk.
"You said that, three months ago. You said we only need months to evaluate the performance of the factory? And months have already passed. Look, big shots are willing to make an investment in this company, we have to take it now!"
"Why the rush?" Ernest asked, shifting his gaze from the parchments to him.
"Because of this," Hollen pulled out something from his bag and set it down.
Ernest looked at it. "It’s a soap."
"Yeah, made by our new competitor," Hollen revealed.
