Joseph first visited Mala to inquire about his injuries, then he headed for Nancy.
Toul is less than 5 miles away from Nancy, so just after noon, his convoy had already arrived at the newly established Nancy Industrial Development Zone.
The development zone is located by the Morte River, encircled by a formidable grey stone wall that seems to stretch endlessly, covering an area of about five to six hundred acres.
Still a distance away from the development zone, Joseph could already see smoke rising into the sky from the zone—coal mines were ubiquitous here, so coal was commonly used as fuel in production. After the introduction of steam engines, the consumption of coal had greatly increased.
The officials of the industrial development zone, upon learning of the Crown Prince’s arrival, hurriedly put aside their work and convened at the western gate to welcome him.
The principal person in charge of the development zone was named Alexander Ramo, who was not a local official of Nancy but was recommended by Mirabeau to manage the development zone. He also ran a fairly large ironworks.
Joseph, as the initiator and planner of the development zone, enjoyed immense prestige and was surrounded by hundreds of officials and workshop owners. The air was filled with respectful and enthusiastic greetings and praise.
Unable to decline their warm reception, Joseph made an impromptu motivational speech, only then managing to “escape.”
Ramo and about a dozen main administrators of the development zone began to take him on a tour of the park. The others, unwilling to leave, followed behind, curious and peeking from a distance of about fifty to sixty meters.
“Your Highness, that over there is the ironworks. The workshops of the Gregoire brothers and Viscount Olivier are both very large,” Ramo pointed towards the large buildings enveloped in black smoke by the river, recalling various figures very clearly, “The two workshops have a total of 7 furnaces and 9 forging shops. They can produce over 50,000 pounds of iron ingots daily.
“Especially the workshop of the Gregoire brothers, which uses the latest model of reverberatory furnace, resulting in very high-quality iron ingots.”
Joseph offered some words of encouragement to the two ironworks, but in reality, he was not entirely satisfied.
50,000 pounds might sound like a lot, but it’s actually only around 25 tons daily, or 7,000 tons annually.
You should know, this is nearly ninety percent of Nancy’s steel production.
At present, the entire France produces just around 120,000 tons of iron a year, which is far from enough for the Industrial Revolution.
Moreover, Joseph himself was not too familiar with steelmaking processes and could only think of a few theories like “using coke” or “blast furnace steelmaking.” To increase production in the short term, it seemed the only solution would be to expand the scale.
In fact, for a substantial increase in steel production, the key was demand.
If it were possible to lay a large number of train tracks nationwide, the intense demand would motivate capital investment into the steel industry, and thus foster new technologies.
The prerequisite for building railroads was trains. The prerequisite for trains was a highly efficient and mature steam engine.
Joseph murmured in his mind, this depended on Murdock’s progress…
Ramo led him through the cluster of buildings along the riverbank, introducing various glass workshops, ironware workshops, and coal crushing sites along the way.
Until a light grey two-story building came into view not far away, Ramo said with some excitement, “Your Highness, that is Mr. Jean Sone’s newly established ‘Production Management Consulting Firm’.”
“The ‘industrialization’ and ‘production standardization’ you requested are currently being promoted by them.”
Joseph nodded, this consulting firm was indeed established under his orders for Jean Sone. After accepting his production standardization training, Sone had rushed to Nancy to teach the new management concepts.
The transition from workshops to factories is a significant task for the industrial development zone and will serve as a model for all of France.
Although there is only one character difference between “工坊” (workshop) and “工厂” (factory), the implication is that of an entire Industrial Revolution!
The so-called “workshop” simply gathers craftsmen in a large courtyard. Except for the larger scale, it is not much different from the primitive small workshop, where management mostly relies on the owner’s whip.
A “factory,” on the other hand, is a product of the Industrial Revolution. It starts with a complete management system, ranging from the most basic issues of tardiness and leaving early to further responsibilities of shift and team leaders, and up to standardized production that significantly enhances efficiency.
Moreover, the employment methods are quite different—factories operate under a fully capitalist employment system, where workers establish labor contracts with the factory and have the freedom of bi-directional choice. Workshops, usually follow a craftsman plus apprentice model.
The apprentices are personally dependent on their masters and are supervised and solidified in this dependency by industry guilds.
For example, in contemporary France, if you want to enter a certain trade, it’s not enough to simply have the skills. First, you have to find a master to sponsor your entry into the guild, beginning a 5 to 7 years apprenticeship where the master can exploit you at will. After graduating to a journeyman, you can nominally work independently, but you still rely heavily on your master in many aspects.
It takes another 3 to 5 years to obtain guild registration and become a true craftsman, and then you start exploiting apprentices…
This model poses a serious drag on industrial development. Many times, a factory could train someone in a matter of months to do a job that, because of guild rules, might otherwise take several years or even longer.
The last point is that factories must pursue and adapt to new technologies more aggressively.
Striving for automation using machines to gain higher profits is the characteristic of factories.
The transformation from a workshop to a factory, if following the normal course of history, would require a baptism of ten years or more of the Industrial Revolution to gradually complete.
Under the guidance of Joseph, the industrial development zone will directly adopt the most efficient model and sprint into the industrial era.
Once industrialization matures, the major weapon of industrial production—the assembly line—will be unveiled.
At that time, France’s factories will slaughter all their European competitors!
Ramo interjected, “Your Highness, although guilds have been completely banned in the development zone, craftsmen are accustomed to the master-apprentice model and will take some time to fully transition. Find more chapters on M V L
“As for standardized production… it is still being promoted, and not a single workshop has been able to implement it yet.”
“Hmm, that’s quite normal. As for you guys, don’t be impatient, and everything should be predicated on not affecting the workshop’s production,” Joseph knew that such a significant management model enhancement could not be achieved overnight.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Ramo then took Joseph through the development zone’s dormitory areas, schools, hospitals, and other regions.
These facilities are of great help to the resident factories. The dormitories alone can significantly reduce the costs for workshops, enabling them even to hire vagrants. The hospital greatly improves the workers’ attendance rate.
After walking for a while, Ramo gestured towards a large cluster of buildings from which white smoke was continuously billowing, “Your Highness, that is the French United Steam Engine Company.”