Chapter 401: The New Factory
"So, what’s the factory’s peak capacity right now?" Lucas asked as he glanced around the large facility.
With a tired look on her face, but a bright smile adoring her lips, Rebecca replied proudly, "Our current record is 4,118 bars of soap in a single day, but we haven’t reached the limits of our equipment yet. As long enough materials can be supplied and we extend the work hours a bit, 5,000 bars shouldn’t be a problem."
"Extend the work hours?" Lucas raised his brow, "What is the current work schedule?"
"Just as you suggested, Boss," Rebecca flipped through her ’clipboard’, another of Lucas’ recent inventions, "On that day, we had 32 workers in the factory, separated into two 10-hour shifts with a 2-hour overlap when the most labour was required."
"We’ve also done as you instructed and had the workers specialize in their tasks, with some focused on preparing the raw ingredients, while others monitor the fires and operate the various stoves. We also have a team dedicated to filling molds, shaping the final bars, and running checks to ensure consistent quality is maintained."
"Good," Lucas nodded in approval, "What about accidents? Are all the safety rules I put in place being followed?"
"There have been a few minor cuts and scrapes due to carelessness, and one worker strained their back from carrying too much weight around the factory floor, but I’ve made sure to reprimand and fine those who weren’t following the proper procedures," Rebecca declared firmly, knowing how seriously her young boss took this aspect of the production line, "After making a few examples, everyone has been much more cautious about obeying the rules."
"Excellent! You’ve done great work here, Rebecca," Lucas praised liberally, truly feeling impressed with the growth the young woman had shown, "However, I want you to focus more on improving efficiency rather than just increasing the number of hours worked, understood?"
"Yes, Boss," Rebecca nodded, making a mental note to herself.
Originally, when Head Manager Victoria informed Lucas that she had assigned Rebecca to be in charge of setting up and running the new soap factory, Lucas had been worried the 18-year-old girl wasn’t up to such an immense task, but after seeing her handiwork in person, it was clear his worries were unfounded.
In order to expedite the process, Rebecca had opted to purchase an old workshop instead of building one from scratch.
That being said, she didn’t just pick out any old building, she took her time, analysed her options, and selected the one which best suited the requirements Lucas had set out for her.
The building was actually a large warehouse that was previously used to store cargo from smaller ships that traveled along one of the smaller tributary rivers that ran south of Misty City to the Lorren. The warehouse had fallen into disuse a few years ago after a new transportation route was established, but it was still in good condition.
Renovations had taken longer than expected, with the need to install a lot of new equipment, especially a pair of giant waterwheels, but Rebecca had overseen the process from start to finish, ensuring that all the details were just right.
The factory had a linear design, with raw materials like fat, lye, and fresh herbs and flowers arriving at its western loading bays via a newly expanded and compacted road.
There was a small walk-in temperature-controlled fridge for storing perishable goods, but it was seldom used right now as the soap ingredients being brought in were basically used up as soon as they arrived.
It seemed Joel had also done a good job in that regard, making sure that the amount of raw ingredients matched the factory’s work capacity relatively accurately.
After ingredients were brought in, they were processed quickly and efficiently.
10 custom-built stoves, with specially designed pots were set up at the western end of the factory. Each pot had a 300-litre capacity and was fixed to sturdy armatures that allowed them to be tipped and poured into barrels or pots placed below.
Currently, only 2 of these pots were in use to handle the raw fats, resulting in this part of the factory constantly smelling delicious despite it being extremely well ventilated.
Once the fats were fully rendered, they were poured through rough metal filters into wheeled pots then transferred to huge vats filled with clean river-water where they were allowed to cool overnight and solidify to ensure as many impurities were removed as possible.
At the same time, huge wooden barrels used to process wood-ash into lye lined the northern walls of the factory. These barrels were filled half-way with ashes, topped up with clean water, left to settle for a couple of days, then drained through taps at their bases to produce highly concentrated lye.
As for where the ashes came from, some of it came from the factory itself, but much of it was simply collected from other shops, businesses, and private homes.
The Balfour Manor, for instance, used an enormous amount of firewood each day, and through his Master’s influence, Lucas had quietly ensured that only certain types of hardwoods were burned for fuel now.
While fats and lye were the only essential components to soap, upon breaking through to the Fourth Step Body Tempering and Sea Establishment Realms, Lucas was able to recall more and more recipes for the cleaning product, including better methods to add scents to them.
As an aside, after his most recent breakthrough, Lucas’ eyes had also changed colour, going from a dark brown to a slightly lighter shade of brown.
This had caused the boy quite a bit of concern, wondering if something was wrong with him, but when he brought his worries to Celestina, she just laughed and told him not to panic.
Apparently, changes in eye-colour sometimes happened as one’s Soul grew stronger, similar to how the body was refined by Martial and Spirit Qi.
Celestina had even joked at the time that if his eyes kept getting lighter in colour, they would soon match her own.
When he heard this joke, Lucas didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. In the end, however, he felt sharing the same eye colour as his Master probably wouldn’t be a bad thing.
For a True Disciple, their Master was like another parent, so having at least one physical trait in common between him and Celestina actually sounded pretty good to Lucas.