Chapter 162 Lu Li Lecture Hall

Chapter 162 Lu Li Lecture Hall

Chapter 162 Lu Li Lecture Hall

"Is that right?"

The officials present discussed with each other, all with frowns on their faces, because although they had seen many countries, they had only visited them as pirates and did not care about the economic conditions and national strength of that country.

Finally, Jin thought for a while and gave his answer, "It seems to be true. Countries with slavery are often not developed. But what does this have to do with the cost of use?"

Everyone else also shut up and looked at Lu Li, waiting for an answer.

"It's a bit complicated to explain this issue, so I'll just briefly mention a few points."

Lu Li said that actually it was because he didn't understand the deep economic theories and could only talk to everyone about things from history books. He now really hoped that he had a brain like Sosuke and a mouth that was good at fooling people.

Under the gaze of the crowd, Lu Li continued: "First, the slave system lacks an economic incentive mechanism. Slaves are not motivated to work and often work only under duress. This model is inefficient. You should have understood this through the production capacity comparison of the new and old factories. So let's analyze the costs of the new and old factories."

"Do we need to analyze this? You are offering obviously more wages than the old factory. Isn't this cost high?"

Maria interrupted.

Lu Li frowned slightly, but still explained: "If you read the report carefully, you will find that the basic salary of the new factory is not much higher than that of the old factory. At present, Wano still uses its own currency. The salary offered by the old factory is 5 silver per month, and the salary offered by the new factory is 7 silver per month."

Maria didn't realize the core of the problem, but only noticed the high number. "Isn't this higher than the cost of the old factory?"

Lu Li was a little disappointed about the IQ of people in this world, because Maria should be considered a smart person in the Beasts Pirates, but she prioritized comparing the amounts and failed to discover the more critical issue.

He could only patiently explain to a group of illiterate people, "The cost issue needs to be analyzed step by step. Aren't you all surprised that I only offered a slightly higher salary than the old factory, and the workers were satisfied and worked hard?"

This time the cadres began to think and realized that something was wrong.

Yes, they remembered that five silver coins were only enough for an adult to eat for a month. If it was a family of three, they would definitely not be able to eat enough and would starve to death.

Even if 5 silvers were changed to 7 silvers, the difference should not be much. Why were the workers in Lu Li's factory so happy to be able to eat their fill?

"Because grain prices have changed, Mr. Lu has also conducted market regulation during this period, right?"

It was Jin, who had been paying attention to Lu Li and the changes within Wano Country, who first figured it out, "So the currency of Wano Country has appreciated in disguise, and the wages we were paid by the factory have also increased."

"There is such a thing!?"

Kaido's voice became louder. "Then I am at a loss, right?"

Lu Lixin said that any capitalist would cry after hearing this, but he could probably understand Kaido's train of thought. Most likely, Kaido only understood that he paid the craftsmen more wages.

But in fact, Kaido never understood that the actual cost he paid was the same, because he did not charge money when he gave food to Kurozumi Orochi or Yamato.

The wages he paid to the craftsmen were not in the world's universal currency, Bailey, but in the local currency of Wano Country. In fact, only the imported food was the real asset cost, but he did not charge any fees for this.

"Governor, I know you are anxious, but please don't be anxious yet."

Lu Li soothed, "Just listen to me."

Kaido looked at Lu Li suspiciously, but thinking that his factory's output was increasing, he calmed down and prepared to continue listening.

"Let's continue with the cost issue. If I hadn't regulated food prices, the workers in both the new and old factories would not have enough to eat. And as Ms. Maria said, I offered higher wages, so how did the cost go down?"

Lu Li spoke in a persuasive manner, but no cadre could come up with the answer on their own, and Jin was also racking his brains to think about it.

Seeing this, Lu Li could only continue: "Then let me change the question. Do you think it is cheap to get a worker from an old factory and let him work there?"

"of course."

Maria said.

"Ms. Maria, you are very familiar with the factory's recruitment process, so let me ask you, from the time the factory finds a worker to the time he is qualified to do the job, what do we need to do?"

Lu Li asked.

Maria frowned slightly, not knowing what Lu Li meant, but she thought about it for a moment, "Devil Fruit factories are more troublesome. Taking weapons factories as an example, we will let the old craftsmen train and guide the new craftsmen for three months, so that they are familiar with various operating procedures before entering the factory to work."

Lu Li clapped his hands, "That's right."

The officials present looked at each other, not knowing what the problem was.

But then, Lu Li's words triggered their deep thoughts, "Ms. Maria, don't you think that training workers is not a cost in itself?"

Maria was stunned for a moment, but she realized that working in a factory is a technical job, which is definitely not comparable to working in a prison or mining. To work, a craftsman must be trained. During the training period, the elite craftsman naturally cannot work, and the production equipment occupied during the training period cannot be produced. In order to prevent the preparatory craftsmen they are educating from starving to death during this period, they also have to pay them wages. Otherwise, if they starve to death before they start working, wouldn’t it be a huge loss?

By this calculation, training, personnel expenses, equipment deactivation, advance salary payment... etc., etc., are all costs!

Education itself is the biggest cost.

Moreover, after Lu Li's previous analysis, she suddenly realized that their workers were not durable. After a few months of training, they might die of hunger and disease within a few years. After doing a simple mathematical calculation, she found that based on a five-year lifespan, the cost of using old factory workers within five years was several times higher than that of free workers!
Even if this period is extended to ten years, it is clear that free workers are cheaper.

Just when everyone was stunned and thinking, Lu Li said, "In order to ensure that the workers can produce normally, did the old factory also set up a lot of supervisors? Some of those supervisors are members of our pirate group, and some are not. We didn't pay our own people, but did they occupy the combat power of our Beasts Pirates? Did we pay the supervisors in Wano Country?"

Lu Li's words were another blow to Maria's soul, causing her small mouth (just in proportion, it was actually quite big) to open slightly. She realized that Lu Li was right, the cost of supervision was extremely high.

Because most of the supervisors in the factory are members of the Beasts Pirates. Even though they haven't fought in recent years, they are still the power of the group and are of course the real cost.

As for the supervisors they hired in Wano Country, the salary is really not low.

"Then...how do you ensure that the craftsmen can work well without a supervisor?"

Maria asked.

"There is no need for an overseer. There is something more terrible than the whip of reality: reality itself."

Lu Li said, "In order to have enough food for myself, for my wife and children, to get ahead, to buy a big house, to live a better life, life is pressing behind everyone. Even if we have basic food and clothing, the devil called desire will drive us forward."

He pointed to the numbers on the report and said, "This is the best proof. I told them that if the new factory doesn't perform well, this plan will be cancelled, and they will all have to go back to picking up garbage. It turns out they did a great job."

"But this is just a temporary coercion. If it goes on for a long time, will they slack off?"

Jhin raised his doubts.

"Of course some people will slack off, which is unavoidable, but because of the structure of the salary system, I believe most people will work hard."

Lu Li turned the page of the report and said, "I guess you haven't read it carefully, so I will talk about the differences between the old and new factory wage systems."

The officials present were all a little ashamed because they really didn't look at it. They only looked at the numbers of the results, and that was all they could understand.

To put it more exaggeratedly, there were even real illiterate people at the scene who could not understand anything except their own bounty orders. There were people who could not read.

"Isn't it 7 silver?"

Maria was also a little embarrassed at this time, because she didn't look at it carefully. It was not because she didn't have the patience or ability to look at it carefully, but because she didn't even look at it twice before it was taken away by other cadres for circulation.

"Of course not. I said that it was an estimate of the average wage. But in reality, the basic wage for a grassroots craftsman working in a new factory is only 2 silver. The rest of the salary depends on his performance."

Lu Li said, "The evaluation is based on his performance, that is, his performance on the production line and the actual output. In simple terms, the better he does and the more he produces, the more salary he can get. On average, everyone can get about 7 silvers in the end, but in reality some people can't get that much. Some people with good performance can get 8 silvers or even 10 silvers."

He walked to the side and wrote and drew on the blackboard that had not been used in the meetings of the Beasts Pirates for many years. "This is the inspiration I got when I was working in the Rabbit Don Prison. The more work, the more pay is a kind of motivation method. The Governor is very smart in this regard."

Kaido nodded without changing his expression, "Well, this rule is good."

"On this basis, I added another rule: craftsmen whose performance is below average for three consecutive months will be laid off, while craftsmen whose performance is above average for one consecutive year will be promoted, that is, their basic salary will be increased. According to this rule, craftsmen can work at the top level of the factory as technical guidance and management, and they don't have to do heavy physical labor. Their salary and social status will also be significantly improved."

Lu Li drew a diagram of the factory's personnel structure on the blackboard. "What do you think, if you were in this system, would you want to move up? And if you want to move up, what do you need to do?"

The officers present looked at each other, and now they completely understood, because the Beasts Pirates also had a similar system.

Everyone below wants to increase their strength and produce results in order to become a cadre in the pirate group. Those who become real fighters want to become the Flying Six, and the Flying Six want to become the big bosses.

So even though there are a lot of people in the Beasts Pirates and they don't usually go out to sea to fight, there hasn't been any widespread situation of giving up, and everyone is working hard to make progress.

"Mr. Lu, this is a really simple yet ingenious structure. Why didn't I think of this method before?"

Jin looked at Lu Li with a little more respect. The factory model was formulated after he discussed with Maria. Now that Lu Li analyzed it, he felt that the old factory model was simply rubbish.

"Mr. Jin, you are too kind. I haven't finished talking about the benefits of free workers."

Lu Li smiled and said, "Just now everyone has been concerned about the cost, so let's further analyze the cost of our own workers."

As he spoke, he drew a circle on the blackboard and wrote Wano Country in it. "Have you ever thought about what kind of wages we pay to the craftsmen in the factory? What kind of costs do we consume in essence?"

(End of this chapter)