VMMM…
VMMM…
VMMM…
In the expansive manufacturing factory of Marshall's Manufacturing, a large number of workers operated enchanted machinery along long, elaborate production lines. They processed raw materials that were input into the production line, heating them and subjecting them to a variety of other processes to get them into the appropriate state for production in accordance with protocols.
Raw materials passed through the processing phase before entering the forging phase, where they were shaped into the various forms of the many components that comprised the Haven HMU-HS23 model.
From there, the forged components and structure of the housing unit were assembled in the assembly phase, where they were combined into a single product.
From then on, they shifted further for the final touches, before proceeding to testing and quality control protocols as provided by Trinity Housings.
From there on, products were shipped from Marshall's Manufacturing in their own trucks, dispatched to the headquarters of Trinity Housings, where they were duly received.
CLACK
Cæ opened up the back of the truck with a satisfied gaze even as he furrowed his eyebrows under the intense heat and light of the afternoon Sun. He whipped out his wand as several magic circles emerged before him, causing all the goods to emerge from the trucks, heading into the factory as he neatly ensured that they arranged themselves inside the factory, before waving the back door of the truck shut.
CLACK
"Shipment number two for the day collected," he called out to Feidin, who stood at the window of the second floor of the gray factory base, nodding at Cæ while he jotted and recorded the shipments that they had begun receiving.
VRMMM…
The truck engines came to life as it drove away, returning to Marshall's Manufacturing, having shipped the goods to Trinity Housings.
STEP
Cæ returned, heaving a sigh at the relief of the shade and cool environment within the factory base. It was almost impossible to believe that within half a day, clouds would take over the entire sky and a storm would unleash tremendous rains.
They had yet to even reach peak monsoon and peak precipitation in the season.
Things would get worse before they got better for the people of the slums.
That was why Trinity Housings anticipated that demand for the haven units had yet to reach a peak, and thus they were yet to reach their maximum profits by that point. Admittedly, Cæ had timed it well this time.
"We have received two hundred haven units just today alone," Seliphaz murmured with a stunned expression as she walked up the stairs from the second floor. "Dlint and the others will already be ready to go and commence the sales of the next batch by the time they return from the previous one. This…"
She turned to Cæ with an uncertain expression, shifting her round spectacles with a finger. "...isn't very sustainable. We need to increase our distribution throughput. We can't have Dlint and the others running back and forth the entire day because there is a limit to the number of goods they can take with them each time."
Cæ nodded. "Feidin has already made arrangements for that. The distributor trucking company we are contracted with has already agreed to rent us two more trucks. We would be tripling our throughput, allowing them to sell hundreds of haven units in the slums at a time. We also promised to cover the costs of an alchemical enhancement to the tires to be willing to take the truck through the outskirts of the slums, reducing the timeframe of the distributions."
He directed a pointed gaze at Seliphaz.
She smiled confidently. "It's not my specialty in alchemy, but I can whip up something that is effective."
Cæ nodded. "Once they heard that we have a Elendir Institute graduate in alchemy, they were more than willing to let us handle the magical servicing."
Such was the reputation of the Elendir Institute of Magic.
Its students were the best in the entire country at all things magical. A senior mage graduate from the Elendir Institute of Magic meant that they had gone through two programs from the institute, giving people deep confidence in their skill.
"Making the trucks go through the slums themselves, challenging as that might be, will still be more secure and quicker," Cæ remarked with a knowing tone. "It reduces our labor costs, reduces our liabilities, and reduces the time spent. We should have done this from the very start, but ah well, this has been a good lesson."
Cæ had to admit that he had learned lots about the fine-tuning of logistics. Scheduling, inventory, and management of distribution operations were boring, but they were also very important. He knew that this experience would allow him to avoid making sub-optimal decisions in the future.
"Good news!" Feidin called from the second floor with an excited tone. "We just sold out the previous shipment of one hundred and twenty haven units! We have received another seven hundred and eighty-six placed orders!"
Cæ's eyes lit up while Seliphaz beamed with delight.
"Yes!" She allowed herself a leap in joy as she threw her arms in the air.
Trinity Housings had begun getting an influx of haven units from Marshall's Manufacturing in large numbers, drastically increasing their products. Their revenue had begun skyrocketing as the demand for housing units in the slums had grown tremendously, as measured by orders placed by the people of the slums.
"Not just that," Feidin continued with an eager tone as he skimmed through the tentative reports placed by the workers participating in the operation units. "They have described massive crowds forming each time they visit. The people of the slums have truly begun warming up to the concept of living in a haven unit!"
STEP
Cæ and Seliphaz swiftly flew up to the second floor, gracefully arriving behind Feidin, who sat behind several monitors at his table, simply gazing at the variety of tabulated data of the sales made and the various reports that the sales team made in accordance with the established protocols.
"Soon we should be able to conduct a basic customer review and survey," Feidin said, growing engrossed in the numbers. "I'm damn sure that they will be super positive. With these numbers, we should go ahead and contract with more contract manufacturers, even if they won't be as good as Marshall's Manufacturing."
Cæ nodded with a serious expression. "Right now, our largest problem is that we still aren't fully saturating demand in the slums. We need to aggressively mass-produce and ensure that they spread as far into the slums as possible. The more normalized they become this season, the more regular a base of customers we will have who will continue purchasing things."
Feidin nodded. "Then, it might be a good thing that the funds that we have gotten from these recent influx orders and purchases should allow us to get more manufacturing deals done. But…"
He winced. "There aren't really too many other contract manufacturers who focus exclusively on non-enchanted goods and products the way that Marshall's Manufacturing does. Those that do shun non-enchanted goods do so largely because they aren't able to fully purchase all the industrial-grade enchantifiers to mass produce enchanted items and products."
Cæ frowned. "Then why don't we just hire manufacturers who are also open to producing non-enchanted goods? The only thing they care about is profit, and they will mass produce origami if it makes them the most money."
"Well, you're right. The issue is that we have decided to keep our profit margins very humble compared to the industry norm for manufactured housing, remember? CEO Leland may have been a little odd and enthusiastically accepted a fifty split on the revenue, but…"
He turned to Cæ with a worried expression.
"That just isn't enough for a lot of other manufacturing companies. This is especially the case when they are unable to utilize their enchantifiers in the case of the production of the haven units, which translates to wasted space and wasted magicapita. The low profit margins on top of this are even more intolerable. We were in talks with a few manufacturers, but none of them have decided to pursue a partnership with us."
Cæ frowned as his eyes sharpened with a piercing gaze. "…In that case, we will have no choice but to offer a greater split of the profit with them."
Feidin's eyes widened with a stunned expression. "…Cæ, we are already operating with very low profit margins, we can't possibly handle any less than we already are. Making double-digit leenar profit per sale is too little to sustain our costs!"
Seliphaz was conflicted by the suggestion.
On the one hand, she cared the least for profits among the three of them. She was the type who would opt to help the people of the slums for free if it were possible.
At the same time, the past year of working alongside Cæ and Feidin had helped her understand the brutal realities of doing business. It was true that they really couldn't afford to cut down more on their profits if they didn't want to collapse.
"Hear me out," Cæ's tone was calm as he gazed straight at Feidin. "I'm not suggesting that we engage in a charity here. I'm suggesting that we focus on saturating the market with as many returning customers as possible to ensure that we capture as many customers as possible. After all…"
He directed a pointed gaze at the two of his fellow owners. "People will always need housing. It is a very stable economic demand and a very stable consumer market. It is worth it to suffer some short-term losses for maximal long-term dominance in this market. Once we have saturated the slums with haven products in a short amount of time, we can then cancel these contracts and work exclusively with Marshall's Manufacturing."
Feidin's eyes lit up with enlightenment as he understood exactly what Cæ was referring to. "Once we have spread the haven units as far as possible, we can then focus on replacing old haven unit models with ones manufactured by Marshall's Manufacturing."
Cæ nodded. "Once we have gotten that under the bag, we will achieve steady and stable high-value monthly sales that will be able to be met with our contract with Marshall's Manufacturing. Once we flood the market with our units as fast as possible, it will virtually turn into an uncrackable market dominance. By the time someone picks up on what we are doing and tries to play copycat, it will be far too late by then."
This was the depth of Cæ's strategic foresight.
With the overwhelming positive response that they had gotten from the people of the slums, Cæ wasn't worried about the long-term prosperity of the Haven product. Once they gathered data on the performance of the haven units in the field, they would have plenty of avenues to improve and make it even more perfect for the needs and desires of the people of the slums.
With that in mind, he was more concerned about the fact that they only had until the end of the monsoon for the demand for the haven units to be at its very peak. They would have to wait for the worst of winter before demand for housing rose once more.
He wanted to saturate the market as much as possible.
It wasn't just greed for money.
"We will be evaluated on our performance this financial year for our retro-variable interest rate program," he mused with a thoughtful expression. "It is best not to delay our saturation of the market by a whole season and get as many sales as possible. Once we achieve maximal sale volume, it will be very difficult for the bank to insist that we are a sub-prime borrower."
With these financial and commercial considerations in mind, they came to the decision of maximizing sales volumes even at the cost of a lower profit margin per sale. Trinity Housings was to race to capture the entirety of the slums as a market as quickly as possible.