ALJ Chpt 93

frameless|right|300px|link=A Long Journey
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==Chapter 93 - A Long Journey==
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22 February 2788
Sparrevohn‎‎ (Federated Suns)
Helen Froy was not impressed by what she was seeing at Marley Munitions. The equipment was old, very old and was manpower intensive with workers still doing a ton of hand assembly on the autocannon ammunition. The only thing really semi-automated was the explosive manufacturing machinery. It was actually not that bad a setup. It was grossly over staffed to meet the demand for ammunition, the overtime and salaries they were paying basically prevented them from any upgrading expenses. A voice caused her to turn around.
"Excuse me, who the hell are you?" Tabitha Marley, CEO of Marley Munitions asked
"Helen Froy, Froy Industries. Mackolla Enterprises sent me out here to check your operation out and see about some very badly needed upgrades to your operation."
"Sorry, I was not expecting you folks so soon." Tabitha Marley said
"We got lucky and managed to schedule sort of a mini command circuit. How much ammunition did you end last year produced?" Helen Froy asked
"I would have to check the numbers but probably 80,000 tons. Not a bad year." Tabitha Marley replied
"Not a bad year? You should be manufacturing that number every single month. If you had been upgrading your equipment properly you could trim your staff or expand your operation. We are going to change that. I brought some experts in the matter with me plus some new equipment. It is not autocannon ammunition but LRM and SRM manufacturing equipment. We are going to expand your offerings and use the profits from those to upgrade the hell out of your autocannon ammunition production. I think you should contact a local construction company and get them to build you two new buildings, each will have 40,000 square feet. I brought the equipment for a single LRM and single SRM line with me, but you will receive at least two more possible three more complete lines for both so we are planning ahead. Each line can manufacture 200 tons of ammunition per day. You are about to start operating 24 hour a day. I am aiming to have you producing 180 to 200,000 tons per year of every type." Helen Froy said
"The company does not have the money for that kind of expenditure." Tabitha Marley replied in near shock at what she had heard.
"Funny, I could have sworn you just received a payment for 180 million. I saw the money transfer paperwork before I left Mackolla." Helen Froy replied
"That was for the purchase of the company." Tabitha Marley replied
"I see, then you no longer need a paycheck and if that is how this game is to be played your services are no longer needed. You are free to pack your personal belongings up and vacate the premises." Helen Froy said
"Wait, just like that, this company has been in my family for generations." Tabitha Marley replied
"Then why did you sell it? I know why I sold my company, but I also made it a condition that I remain in charge. I have poured quite a bit of the money I got for the sale right back into the company. That is the job of the CEO, it goes down as a loan to the company which then repays you. Now, are you willing to be a CEO and do that or do you want to pack your stuff up and I will handle it from here on out?" Helen Froy asked
"Dad always took the profits as his paycheck, same as his father and so on. The banks quit loaning us money a long time ago." Tabitha Marley replied
"So you just did as you were taught so to speak. No wonder everything is so rundown and falling apart. Okay, I still need an answer to my question." Helen Froy said
"How much will all these upgrades and expansion cost?" Tabitha Marley asked
"It can change but if I were to take a guess, probably close to two hundred million. But that is easy to handle. You get those LRM and SRM lines up and running around the clock and you should be able to pay off the loan to yourself in the first year easily. I estimate your first month revenue from the LRM line alone to be about 180 million. That line will only need 120 workers for three shifts of 40 workers each, but you want to have an extra ten per shift to handle call outs and such. I would be surprised if you didn't have a ten percent or higher profit margin for the first months production. I used to average a 15% margin back on New Earth and I only produced small batches, not supplying the SLDF. I was a small fish in the pond, we plan to be one of the bigger fish in this pond." Helen Froy said
Tabitha Marley had a stunned look on her face, "I have never thought this place could generate that much money." 
"Loan the money and stick around, you are going to get a crash course on making more money than you have ever dreamed of. There should be no reason, once we have everything online and upgraded that this company is not making upwards of 16 Billion, on just your existing ammunition types, in revenue this year alone. Plus, to hit that only takes about 2,700 people, you have almost double that number right now. But we will get to that in due time, right now, we need to get what I brought with me up and running to generate some cash flow that will allow us to start upgrading and modernizing the rest of this factory complex. I envision at least three production lines for every ammunition, AC/2, AC/5, AC/10, AC/20, LRM, SRM, LBX/10 Slug, LBX/10 Cluster and then maybe even branching out to artillery shells and even the alternate LRM and SRM ammo types which you get to charge even more for per ton. Always remember, you have to spend money to make money." Helen Froy said
"There is so much that I don't know, I didn't know." Tabitha Marley replied
"If you are willing to learn how to really operate a company, I will teach you how to be a real business woman." Helen Froy said 
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23 February 2788
Gulkana (Federated Suns)
"Holy crap, they were right, they do assemble the damned things by hand." Thomas Haminashi said quietly as he walked around the massive assembly building. They at least had decent equipment to manufacture all the parts inhouse that he could tell, but the final assembly into actual weapons was done by hand. "How many do you make per day?"
"Standard autocannons, four per day of each size, most of our attention is on the LBX/10 which we make sixteen per day." Agetha Bernard replied, she was the plant manager.
"Lord almighty, we have our work cut out for us here. No wonder your barely surviving, you are so over staffed it is not even funny. We have got to get some automation in here. Plus expand your weapons line ups. You should be making 200 weapons a day of each type at a bare minimum. It is not just for new proudction but the AFFS needs replacement weapons too. Your close as hell to the main manufacturers and should dominate the market but you barely have any market share at all from what I can find open source. We are going to not only upgrade the equipment but we are going to add weapons types to your line up. TechniCorp on Panpour needs SRM-6 and LRM-10, at least 200 per day but we are going to plan for 400 a day of each size.....SRM-2, 4, 6 and then LRM-5, 10, 15 and 20. We will start with 200 a day." Thomas Haminashi said
"Sir, I cannot authorize any of this and I have not seen anyone above myself in several months." Agetha Bernard replied
"I am authorizing it. Seems the family owned and operated Yeffters did not mean very much once they got a bunch of money in their account. Agetha, may I call you Agetha? Good, I am the new CEO of Yeffters Weapons, there will be a name change down the road but that is not important right now. Right now, we have a ton of work to accomplish and time is short. We need to get some orders placed and the equipment on the way." Thomas Haminashi said
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27 February 2788
Delavan (Federated Suns)
"Well, they were wrong, the equipment is first rate, but why the hell is it not producing?" Jason Ryan asked
"Broke down and we don't have the money to repair them at all. Your talking about thirty to thirty five million to get them all back up and running like they are supposed to. We barely make payroll as it is and have cut staffing to only what our limited production can handle." 
"Rehire everyone, right now. Get the repair folks on the phone and get these machines back in order. By the end of next month I want every one of these lines up and running at maximum capacity. There is a war on and damned if we are going to lose the war over broken machines." Jason Ryan said
"I have to get authorization for that sir."
"You just got it. Your under new management now and the old cronies are out. Took the money and ran, like we thought they would. We have 120 million in the bank right now for operating expenses, so we spend the money and start earning a damned profit. Now, I am not familiar with these machines, not this type anyway. Maximum output, how many can I expect per day?" Jason Ryan said
"The ER Large Laser machinery can manufacture about 75 per day and we have two of them, both broke down. The Large Laser, that is our bread and butter, can make 50 per day, but we have four lines, only one works. Medium Laser, both machines broke down, 200 per day if we can get them back up and running. Small Laser, 50 per day, single line. Medium Pulse 50 per day, two lines, both down." 
"Once everything is back up and running the number don't sound too bad. I want a full report on what each weapon actually costs to produce here, I cannot think of a reason why we cannot break a 20% profit margin." Jason Ryan said
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