episode_0049

Chaae-ae-!

The arming sword that the skeleton worked hard to create and forged to a sharp edge was placed on the finished product storage stand. It struck several existing arming swords, producing a clear sound. The sound, like a bell ringing, made me nod my head.

However, it only took a moment for me to nod my head at that sound. This is because I felt a little impatient as I looked at the items being made.

The problem was that there was a mountain of products that needed to be made, and the time for delivery was getting closer. In short, the time needed to produce goods was extremely tight.

The quantity previously ordered from Smith Skeleton’s Carbon branch, the additional order received when I visited this time, and the items requested by Count Carbon. Even considering the amount sold in our village, it was close to creating a demand that far exceeded production capacity.

“I wonder if there will be a problem in getting the goods to the Carbon branch… … .”

They immediately had the mercenaries capture the goblins and replenished the skeletons, but the fire in their feet did not go out right away.

Since I was in a situation where I would not be able to meet the delivery date if things continued like this, I decided to change the production method a little. A more efficient production method than before. Of course, nothing has been decided yet on how to change it. The plan was to change when researchers found a more efficient production method.

Therefore, I immediately summoned researchers. At the R&D headquarters, everyone who was doing research or development they wanted to do hurriedly rushed to the blacksmith shop at my summons.

“Did you call the boss?”

When I received a considerable amount of compensation for my work developing the blast furnace, all the researchers looked at me with eyes full of loyalty. This was thanks to the fact that they gave him more money than he made while running the blacksmith shop.

Anyway, I started talking about the researchers who looked like they were asking me to do anything with their eyes full of loyalty.

“Do you each individually research or develop things?”

“Yes! My student and I are currently researching an easy way to reprocess the iron from the blast furnace into steel that can be used to produce weapons and other products!”

“Oh, good. You and your students will continue the study.”

Since the task was to research technology that was needed immediately, the researcher and his students were sent back to headquarters. Then, he turned his attention to the researcher next to him.

“I am researching ways to further remove impurities from iron produced in a blast furnace.”

“That’s important too. What about you?”

“When I was young, I farmed. So, we were developing products that would make farming more efficient.”

“Hmm, developing new products is also essential.”

After finding out what the researchers were doing, I nominated several researchers. From what I can judge right now, they were the ones who were good at producing results from their research as quickly as possible, even if only by a second.

“You guys should go back and finish your research, and the rest of you should help me.”

The researchers pointed out to me left, promising that they would produce results as soon as possible. I nodded, hoping that it would bring good results as they had promised.

And then, without leaving, he turned his attention to the remaining researchers. They were people who were developing new products that could be conducted in the future or that were not immediately necessary.

” Let’s put aside the research and development you are doing now and start solving the tasks I give you.”

“Yes? If you say it’s a task… … ?”

Unfortunately, the senior researcher, who could not return to headquarters because he was developing a new product, showed interest in the word ‘task’.

Seeing the chief researcher’s appearance, he pointed to the skeletons working hard to produce items behind him. Then the eyes of the remaining researchers all turned to the skeletons.

“Those skeletons are making things. Find a way to increase their productivity. Except, of course, just making more skeletons. Because we are already doing that.”

Although there were immediately more skeletons, production capacity was still insufficient. It would have been okay to make the skeleton go crazy, but it would start to overwhelm the black magic, so that wasn’t a good idea.

Anyway, since the researchers were given a task, they immediately began researching to solve it. Seeing that they seemed to be thinking quite seriously, I silently watched what they were doing from behind.

“How about changing the shape of the skeleton?”

“Wouldn’t that be a bit inefficient? To make things, you need to use a variety of tools, but there may be tools that cannot respond when the shape is changed.”

“How about raising the kiln temperature a little more? By allowing the iron to be heated quickly, the work time itself is reduced.”

“Oh, not bad. But isn’t there a better way? Oh, of course I do that.”

“I think it would be a good idea to make parts that can be used in common. If you have something to share, like a handle, you can use it together. It is made in advance and then used.”

“But aren’t there more things that are difficult to use for public use? Besides, it’s a part that will be made anyway, so does it make any difference if it’s shared?”

The researchers put their heads together and continued their research. Every time they talked to each other, plausible solutions emerged, but if you think about it carefully, there were some problems.

“Huh?”

However, unlike the researchers who were talking together, one researcher who was looking closely at the skeletons seemed to remember something.

“Boss!”

“Uh, why? Did you think of any good way?”

At the sight of the researcher who seemed to have remembered something, my anticipation immediately soared. The expectation was that this situation, which requires more production capacity, could be resolved immediately.

“I think we can just apply everything we just said! We changed the shape of the skeleton, made the kiln fire stronger, and shared parts!”

“… … all? I heard you say it earlier, aren’t there some downsides?”

As I was listening to the researchers’ conversation, I could also hear the shortcomings of what they were saying. So I asked if there were any shortcomings, but the researcher looked rather confident.

“You can divide labor.”

“Division of labor?”

The word division of labor suddenly brought back memories of my past life. It seems like something I heard briefly during my long student days, and it was about mass production through division of labor. Although I can’t remember the details, I do remember the idea of maximizing production efficiency through division of labor.

However, since it did not come to mind completely, I asked the researcher for a little more explanation. And, just like me, other researchers were also staring at him.

“If you say division of labor, you mean dividing up the work, right?”

“Yes. So the shortcomings disappear. Firstly, there is no problem if you change the shape of the skeleton. It doesn’t matter if you end up with a tool that doesn’t respond to only one task. And, common parts can also be resolved, if not completely, through division of labor. You can create semi-finished parts that can be finished with just a little more processing, and then go through additional processing for each product. Since you have half of it completed, you can save time compared to making it from scratch.”

“Wouldn’t that be bad?”

“Rather, this division of labor also has the advantage of making it easier to add skeletons. Aren’t we in a situation where we’re bumping into each other to forge? Division of labor reduces the number of skeletons doing forging work, making it possible for several people to work at the same time.”

Even if you look right now, there are skeletons tangled together to use the kiln, and behind them, there are skeletons waiting to approach the kiln.

As I pointed out that point, dividing labor seemed like a really good choice. Once the waiting time for heating the iron in the kiln was reduced, production volume increased correspondingly.

“Then think about how to make that division of labor more efficient. First, I will make a skeleton that will only be responsible for heating the iron in the kiln.”

I decided to leave it up to the researchers to decide which parts to divide the labor into, and modify some of the skeletons. This was the purpose of bringing in people with more specialized knowledge than me in the first place.

Since I can handle more types of objects using my hands than using tongs, I started strengthening my hands. His hands were strengthened to the point where he could hold and carry a piece of iron heated up in a blazing fire. Thanks to this, there were significant restrictions on actions such as hitting a hammer, but since the purpose was division of labor, it was not something to worry about.

And, the researchers’ discussion came to an end when they created a skeleton that would only be responsible for heating the iron in the kiln.

“Boss. First of all, I think we can divide it into three major categories. From basic work to machining work to finishing work. Groundwork will include heating and producing semi-finished common components. Processing work can be said to be the work of transforming products that have completed basic work to suit each specification. Finishing work includes processing and assembling common parts to each specification, sharpening blades, etc.”

The researchers gave a brief explanation and also told us how to place the skeletons.

A skeleton in charge of the process of taking cast iron, heating it, melting it again, and then making it into steel, a skeleton that heats the steel so that it can be forged into appropriate sizes, a skeleton that forges the heated steel to shape the object, and objects such as handles and fixtures. Skeletons that make things commonly included in a semi-finished form, skeletons that assemble things divided into several parts, etc. Various tasks were assigned to skeletons in accordance with the term division of labor.

Of course, the shape of the skeletons assigned to the work also changed little by little. Skeletons doing forging were given stronger hammer swings, and skeletons assembling parts were given two more arms.

After taking some time to transform the skeletons, the researchers immediately began operating them as distributed.

And, the effect was immediately visible.

“Production seems to have definitely gotten a little faster, perhaps because the skeletons are specialized for one task.”

Unlike before, where a single skeleton handled everything from processing iron to completing the product, production became faster as the skeletons repeated only one specialized task.

For example, a pickaxe, a shovel, and a saw were made by one skeleton carving wood to create the common handle, and three processing skeletons were each making the pickaxe head, shovel, and saw blade. The parts created in this way were handed over to the assembly skeleton, which assembled and fixed the sack to produce it.

It was quite fascinating to see the skeletons handing over the parts they had made to create objects.

At the front, the heating skeleton heats up the iron and hands it over, the forging skeleton, which can powerfully swing a large hammer, forges it and shapes it and hands it over, and the assembly skeleton inserts the handle given by the handle-making skeleton. Lastly, the finishing work skeleton sharpened the blade and refinished the overall product, just as the maintenance skeletons did at the Carbon branch.

It felt like a factory I had seen in passing from a memory from my past life. No, seeing as how products were being made at almost twice the speed compared to before, it didn’t seem like it would be much better than the factory in my previous life.

“It should be easy to meet the delivery schedule at this level.”

Thanks to this, I was able to significantly alleviate my worries about the delivery schedule. We simply changed the way things were produced, and production almost doubled.

Now, it seemed like there would be room for production even if we met the delivery schedule, so I was worried about what more things I should make. Of course, before that, we need to get more researchers talking about how there might be a more efficient way to divide labor.