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Chapter 455: Chapter 445: Finding a Way
Shen Yunfang took out the first batch of finished products and inspected them carefully.
Due to the time constraints, and the fact that printing could only be done by Zhou Tian, only three designs from a hundred spring festival couplet styles had been printed, with a thousand copies of each design.
"We were in such a rush that the plate-making master was only able to produce three plates in one day," Ma Liguo explained the reason for having just three designs.
Looking at the couplets, Shen Yunfang nodded her head. She knew that the current craftsmanship couldn’t reach the exquisite quality of future computer plate-making. However, the plate-makers of her time were genuinely skilled. Though slow, their pure manual production resulted in a quality that was still very impressive.
"These three plates are good, but if we continue at this speed, we won’t be able to print all of the spring couplets we’ve taken orders for by the New Year. We need to think of a solution," Shen Yunfang was quite satisfied with the finished products but was concerned about the slow pace.
Ma Liguo frowned and scratched his head as she spoke. These craftsmen were quite particular, and when he went to supervise, he became very anxious watching their slow pace. Unable to resist, he had urged them a few times, only to receive a cool reply that plate-making is a delicate task and they could go faster if he wanted, but then they wouldn’t guarantee the quality.
This put Ma Liguo in the position of choosing between speed and quality—rushing would compromise the quality, and quality takes time, so no flippant comments were allowed.
Being in need of their services, Ma Liguo had to endure the frustration, even having to sweet-talk and flatter them.
"You don’t know, Yunfang. It frustrates me so much to watch them make the plates, but I don’t dare say a word. I can only watch. Otherwise, they will ask me whether I want speed or quality. What can I say, really? Sigh," Ma Liguo also felt at a loss.
Shen Yunfang smiled. The workers in the factories nowadays were probably all like this, similar to the farmers who went out to work. Working more didn’t mean earning more, so who would want to tire themselves unnecessarily? They’d all try to do less if possible, delay the work whenever they could.
"So we really need to find a way to solve this issue," Shen Yunfang said, intentionally steering Ma Liguo in that direction.
Although Ma Liguo was more open-minded than most people at the time, he still had his limitations. It wasn’t his fault; it was the way of the current environment. Having seen and known less, he naturally thought less.
"I’m thinking, why don’t we hire more plate-making masters to work together? Maybe that would speed things up." That was the typical thinking of people at the time.
If one master could produce three plates a day, hiring more would seem the straightforward way to increase productivity.
Shen Yunfang nodded; this was one solution, though not very cost-effective. It was the solution of no other choice. 𝑛𝘰𝘷𝑝𝘶𝑏.𝑐𝘰𝘮
"Can you find other plate-making masters?" Shen Yunfang asked.
"There are three official plate-making masters at the printing factory, with a few apprentices. However, I heard they haven’t completed their apprenticeship yet, so we can’t use them. We can only rely on the other two," Ma Liguo knew only about the plate-making masters within the printing factory; he didn’t know anywhere else that might have them. Hence, he had inquired indirectly from the workers about the other two masters in the factory today.
"So that means there are only three plate-making masters in total. If one can make three plates a day, three masters would make nine. If any are faster, let’s say they all can make four, then in one week, that’s twelve. We have a little over seven weeks until New Year, not counting sales time. That would result in a total of eighty-four plates for seven weeks. That still wouldn’t be enough to print all the couplets, not to mention the ’fu’ characters, right?" By Ma Liguo’s suggestion, there would not be enough time no matter how the calculations were done.
Of course, they could produce fewer designs, but Shen Yunfang thought that the first year would be the most profitable since it was unique. Just watch - by next year, the number of imitators would be countless. So she figured that, if possible, it would be best to produce more this year and earn as much as they could.
Ma Liguo also did the calculations with her and found that indeed, this method couldn’t get all the blocks Yunfang had given to be printed. Oh, thinking about those nice couplets, he couldn’t bear to give up any of them.
"So what should we do? Should I go and inquire again to see if there are any plate-making masters available?" Ma Liguo could only think of this solution.
Shen Yunfang shook her head, they didn’t have much time to begin with, and looking for someone now, by the time they found someone, not many plates could be made, so it wouldn’t be very effective.
"Brother Ma, why do you think these workers go to work in the factories?" Shen Yunfang suddenly asked him this question.
"To earn wages, of course," Ma Liguo answered without even thinking.
Now, why does everyone want to work in factories? Because being a worker ensures a steady income; no matter what, they get paid every month.
"Right, they work for the sake of earning wages, earning money. If we gave them slightly more compensation, do you think they might work even harder?" Shen Yunfang suggested.
Ma Liguo thought for a moment, nodded, then shook his head.
"Yunfang, our wages for these workers are already not low. Plate-making masters get three yuan a day, other workers two yuan. How much more can we offer if we raise wages? Besides, even if we raise the wages, and they slow down their work to earn those high wages for a few more days, wouldn’t that be counterproductive for us?" Ma Liguo thought about it and felt that simply giving these masters more money wasn’t a good method. "And what if the plate-making masters are of poor character, and after a few days, become dissatisfied and demand another wage increase? That could happen, and if they know we are in a rush, it would be difficult to manage if they start to make demands."
Shen Yunfang listened carefully to what he said and quietly nodded in agreement. Ma Liguo was very attentive; considering these points proved he was really thinking things through.
"Brother Ma, can we find a different way to increase their wages?" Shen Yunfang asked with a smile.
"What’s your alternative?" Ma Liguo didn’t know where this was going and sat down on the sofa to wait for Shen Yunfang’s strategy, noticing that she seemed to have a plan in mind.
"I was thinking, can we use a piece-rate system to calculate the money for these plate-making masters?" Shen Yunfang explained her method.
"Piece-rate system?" Ma Liguo repeated.
"Yes, payment per piece. Currently, you pay them three yuan a day, and they can make three plates a day. Let’s consider one plate one yuan. What if we tell them that from now on, we’ll pay one yuan per plate, so the more plates they make, the more money they can earn. Don’t you think they could pick up the pace?"
Ma Liguo wasn’t slow to catch on and immediately grasped Shen Yunfang’s idea, slapping his thigh, "This is a good method, get paid for what you do. I don’t believe they won’t work their hardest."
Exactly, it’s about earning more money. With this performance-based pay, no one would slack off anymore.
Seeing that he understood, Shen Yunfang felt very reassured – speaking with a smart person was indeed straightforward. "I believe that with this approach, their speed will definitely improve. However, you also need to take control of the quality inspection, to ensure that the increased speed doesn’t result in decreased quality."
"Absolutely, I must note this down," Ma Liguo concurred, realizing after the reminder that this was indeed a possibility and hurriedly pulled out a notebook from his jacket pocket to jot it down. "Come on, Yunfang, keep the ideas coming, I’ll write them all down."
