Chapter 396： private workshop

Mr. Erkins got up early this morning, and when it was still daylight, he began to groom and trim his beard carefully. After a hasty breakfast, he hurried to his work place—an iron workshop located on the outskirts of Huxin Town.

When he arrived, all the employees in the workshop had already arrived.

Erkins stood on a wooden box and said very seriously: "Give me a good performance today! Keep your spirits up!"

"Don't worry, boss!"

"We will never let others underestimate us!"

The employees below responded one after another.

There are big people coming to visit today!

Erkins was born in a family of blacksmiths. In the early years, blacksmiths were high-level craftsmen and a very popular profession. Of course, being a blacksmith is also a very good choice now, but it is always a little less popular than before.

The reason for this phenomenon is the development of technology.

First, because Earl Greiman improved the iron-smelting technology, raw materials are no longer a constraint.

Then there is the rapid development of the Huxin Town Machinery Factory. The machinery factory needs a large number of metal parts, and at the beginning it was customized from the private blacksmith shop. However, folk blacksmith shops are generally the kind of unique workshops inherited from father to son, scattered in various places in Arda, and it takes a lot of time to come and go.

Moreover, Earl Gleiman's requirements for the size of various devices can be described as "abnormal", and he also specially invented a measuring tool called "vernier caliper". However, due to various reasons, the quality of the products produced by those small shops varies. So the machinery factory began to train its own blacksmiths.

As the lord of the first collar, the Greiman family has raised some blacksmiths who have served them for generations, and it can be said that they are the most skilled blacksmiths in the whole of Arda. For example, Mr. Herman, whom Erkins admired most before, is The most powerful blacksmith in the Lord's Mansion. However, he hasn't seen Mr. Herman much in the past two years. It is said that he was entrusted with a heavy responsibility by the lord, and he is no longer in Huxin Town.

Now Earl Greiman has arranged all these people to the machinery factory, and adopted a method similar to the way Weiss College educates students, vigorously recruiting and cultivating blacksmith apprentices. Unlike blacksmiths in other places who require comprehensive skills, the Earl only requires them to be able to build one piece of equipment, but they must hone their skills to perfection. These newly trained young blacksmiths repeat a set of simple movements day after day in the so-called "workshop". Some slightly complicated things will even be built by several people in succession, each person only completes a part of it, and then passes it to the next person until the whole work is formed.

However, the inspection of the results of each stage is also strict, and each link is watched by a dedicated person, holding a measurement tool for inspection. Blacksmiths with too low a pass rate will have their wages cut or even lose their jobs. For civilians, the salary in the machinery factory is quite generous, so everyone works hard.

Not only blacksmiths, but also carpenters in machinery factories have adopted such a working method.

After satisfying the demand for spare parts for large equipment such as wagons and harvesters, the machinery factory began to produce some small products, such as hoes, rakes, pitchforks and other commonly used farm tools, and the prices for external sales were kept very low.

This has greatly affected the livelihood of those traditional craftsmen.

But what squeezed them was the workshop under the command of the dignified Arda. As a commoner, no one dared to come out and organize the craftsmen to fight against the lord.

Poor people want to change. Some well-off craftsmen began to expand their production scale, recruiting blacksmiths and carpenters to join their production teams, learning the way of working in machinery factories. One after another factories were forced to come into being.

Strange to say, Earl Greiman not only did not hide from competitors in a certain sense, but also called these new factory owners to visit his machinery factory and let them carefully observe the work in the machinery factory. Process, announced to encourage them to start a business, tax exemption for three years.

Erkins is one of the workshop owners transformed from a traditional blacksmith.

Recalling the days when I just started my business, it is really hard to describe.

Although Erkins has been engaged in the blacksmith industry for generations, Erkins has some family background, but that little money is not enough to purchase venues, recruit workers, and purchase tools.

Erkins tried to raise funds on the stock exchange in Port Fullland, but he was not a person in the traditional business field, and he had no reputation to attract others, so he had to follow the traditional way to borrow money from relatives and friends, and finally stumbled. The factory was established.

However, due to the first-mover advantage of the Huxin Town Machinery Factory, it quickly occupied the market with its cheap and high-quality features. Many private factories were struggling desperately on the edge of life and death.

Erkins' factory also encountered such bad luck. Just when he felt that he couldn't survive, he wanted to disband the factory in despair, and then went to the lord's machinery factory to find a job and work for the rest of his life to pay off his debts. A turning point came.

Under the leadership of Earl Greiman, the lords of the Northwest established a so-called company called "Northwest Industry", whose main business was to sell arms to the southern kingdom government.

The factory owners who hadn't closed down and went bankrupt were summoned to the Lord's Mansion for a meeting. The Earl claimed to have found a way of making money for them, that is, to join Northwest Industries and provide the "company" with supplies. The Earl also stated that the industries under his control would not involve the production of ordnance such as swords and armor, and UU Reading would not constitute competition, allowing them to produce with confidence.

And they don't need to worry about transportation and other links, Northwest Industry will take care of it, as long as the delivery is made according to the stipulated time.

There are two more requirements: one is to unify the styling style, so that customers can form an impression that it can be seen at a glance that it is made in the Northwest Gulf. The second is to strictly control the quality.

As soon as Earl Greiman finished speaking, the factory owners raised their arms and shouted long live the lord. Everyone knows that war is a good opportunity to make money, especially in ordnance.

Although many of them were still cursing in their hearts when they entered the gate of the lord's mansion, why the earl's mechanical field didn't give them some way to survive.

Erkins was in tears in the lobby at the time, and he almost couldn't turn himself over as a salted fish.

He sincerely thanked the Earl.

After inquiring, it turned out that there was a rebellion in the far south, and the royal government was buying weapons everywhere.

Erkins sighed, it seems that he should pay more attention to current affairs, because he will not have a chance to make a fortune if he only focuses on the one-acre three-point land around him. After thinking about it again, the Earl could not have established Northwestern Industries because he wanted to find a way for us hapless people to survive, and then he was amused by his somewhat absurd idea.

Next, a steady stream of ordnance orders from the south revived the private factories, not only gaining a firm foothold, but also making a fortune. Erkins also stepped into the ranks of the rich.

But with the end of the counterinsurgency war, Southern demand for ordnance plummeted.

Continuing to find new business opportunities has become Erkins' immediate top priority.

Just as he was scratching his head, the Lord's Mansion released the news that another big customer came from Jiaowan.

Erkins' workshop was selected for new customers to visit, and it was the earl who personally led the customers.