"Capitalists are all profit-driven!" — Das KapitalButler Karl was very efficient, and the results were pleasing. Eight of the factory owners were willing to sell.
No one wants to do business that doesn't make money. In Austria, which had already industrialized, flour mills were a sunset industry, and fierce competition left no room for profit.
Ferdinand still left the negotiations to Karl, as the old butler's talent in this area made him ashamed. The previous supermarket purchases had proven this point; Ferdinand himself was simply not suited for haggling.
Ultimately, Ferdinand acquired a flour mill called "Katowice Porto" for eighteen thousand pounds.
The machinery and equipment had been purchased a year ago, and it had over 180 skilled technical workers and more than 50 employees. At full capacity, it could produce 2,000 metric tons of flour daily.
Since these machines were bought, Katowice Porto had never operated at full capacity, and its staff had been cut from over 500 at its peak to the current number.
Even so, Katowice Porto was barely holding on, hovering on the brink of loss and profit.
Ferdinand was very satisfied with this acquisition. A new boss always brings a new look, so he renamed Katowice Porto.
"Shuanghui Food Development Limited Group Company" was the new, grand name for the flour mill, signaling a new beginning. Well, actually, it was entirely Ferdinand's prank; he planned to plagiarize all familiar brands in the future.
Ferdinand retained the original factory director, William Schubert. In competitive Vienna, a flour mill that could break even was sufficient proof of his ability.
In fact, the original factory, Katowice Porto, was run quite well; everything, inside and out, was well-managed, and costs were minimized.
However, sales were a complete mess. There was no brand and no large wholesalers, with products primarily sold to the vast countryside.
There was no other way; as a latecomer, the urban market had already been completely carved up. The ability to open up the rural market was enough to show that the boss had strategic vision, but unfortunately, it was too far ahead of its time. The countryside in this era was dirt poor; trying to achieve a rural encirclement of the cities was a pipe dream.
But now with Ferdinand, everything was no longer a problem. Of course, in the short term, supermarket sales were limited, and the rural market could not be abandoned immediately.
As the boss, Ferdinand personally went to the factory to appease the employees. He publicly promised never to delay wages and inspected the factory's current situation.
Finally, seeing the dark bread, he felt compassion and announced a twenty percent increase in the existing food allowance standard, immediately winning the support of the workers.
Management personnel were dispatched, and with the cooperation of the workers, after a short period of adjustment, the factory resumed operations.
To improve production efficiency and stimulate the workers' enthusiasm for production, Ferdinand proposed a constructive bonus plan to William.
William quickly came up with a practical factory reward system and submitted it to him.Ferdinand was very satisfied with William's approach. As the boss, he could be generous to the workers, but the opposite was true for managers. Like many bosses, only he could be the good guy and win people's hearts, while managers had to be the bad guys, saving him money.
William's plan was that if workers increased their average monthly output or improved overall quality on the existing basis, for every one percent increase in output or quality, their team would receive a bag of flour as a reward.
This measure was beneficial and inexpensive; the flour was self-produced, so the cost was very low, and workers could take it home for their own consumption, which had the same effect as direct cash bonuses.
Ferdinand also discovered that William still had a basic conscience. Without harming his own interests, he tried his best to increase benefits for the workers, which pleased Ferdinand even more.
"Mr. William, you've done a beautiful job with this plan.Workers need incentives. How about this: you go and tally how many family members each employee working at the factory has. In the future, they can all buy corresponding rations from the factory at ex-factory prices." Ferdinand once again dropped a strategy to win over people's hearts.
"Alright, Your Highness~ I'll go take care of it right away!" William said excitedly.
From ex-factory to retail, the price of flour increased by at least thirty percent. And since flour was a staple food in Europe, this would greatly reduce the workers' living expenses, equivalent to a two or three-fold increase in their wages.
This was the best way Ferdinand could think of to improve the workers' living conditions as much as possible, given the existing conditions and without harming established interests.
Facts proved Ferdinand's strategy was correct. As his industries expanded, the welfare policies enjoyed by his workers increased. In the future, when the labor movement flourished, his factories were always the most stable, and the influence of unions there was much weaker.
Time flew by, and the flour mill quickly got on track. Production steadily increased, and quality continuously improved. When it finally stabilized, total output grew by nearly thirty percent, and premium products also increased by eleven percent.
The cost he paid was merely a few hundred extra bags of flour distributed each month, averaging two or three bags of flour per worker.When calculating the bonuses, William was very generous, essentially giving the full amount. However, when distributing the rewards, he shamelessly swapped the rewards for smaller bags. Since it wasn't specified at the time, the workers had nothing to say.
These were specially developed large and small packages to adapt to supermarket sales. There were 50 kg large bags, 20 kg medium bags, 10 kg small bags, and even 5 kg tiny bags, and they even developed 1 kg micro-packages. Of course, on average, the smaller the package, the higher the unit price.
William still had some humanity; he didn't switch to the smallest packages, otherwise, the workers would have truly been in tears. Currently, they were given 10 kg bags of flour, and two or three bags were enough for one person's rations, so the workers happily took them away.
Ferdinand, fearing bad debts, had separated the finances of the factory and the supermarket early on. Even supermarket purchases had to be paid for, settled at market prices.
Because of the increased sales channels from the supermarket, the flour mill quickly started making a profit. In the first month, it earned three hundred pounds, although it still couldn't compare to a single supermarket.
However, Ferdinand was still very satisfied. This was a good start. The factory's capacity was currently only operating at one-third, and many products were sold to the countryside with almost no profit. If everything could be self-produced and self-sold, the factory's profit margin still had a lot of room for improvement.
Ferdinand then thought of a trick most commonly used by merchants in later generations. He shamelessly used different packaging bags, creating seven or eight brands for customers to choose from. Like unscrupulous merchants of later generations, he sold the same flour at different prices, which proved to be quite profitable.