Turnabouts
Michelle put aside the latest production statistics with a soft growl of dissatisfaction. She was still having to tell her customers that supplies of the room-temperature superconductor wire were extremely limited. The fact that most of her clients were prepared to wait was not relevant to her. As far as she was concerned, if a customer wanted a product that Harmonic Composites offered, they should be able to get it in a reasonable amount of time. After the initial stockpile had been snapped up, the lead time for supply had stretched out to eight weeks and was increasing.
Michelle made up her mind, picked up her phone, and dialed a number.
“Precious Goods,” came an answering voice.
“This is Michelle Van Dijk. I would like to come to your office to discuss production delays.”
“Nothing has significantly changed, Ms. Van Dijk.”
“I noticed. That’s why I want to talk about that with you. Perhaps there’s something I can suggest from my own experience that may be of help, but to do so, I need to better understand the process.”
There was a short delay before the mare responded. “Very well. I’m available now. Come directly to my office.” Precious then hung up.
Michelle scowled. She did not need a reminder of her ban from the factory floor. She picked up her notes and headed for the security office. She told Haxtur to leave the adaption spell off, and she strode into Precious Goods’ office in her normal human form.
“Sit down, Ms. Van Dijk, and tell me what you want to know,” Precious said curtly.
“I’ve had no education in processes that involve magic, so let me know how the superconductor wire manufacturing works and why it’s so difficult to improve the success rate. Don’t assume I know or understand anything.”
The mare nodded. “The major difficulty is not the complexity of the spell that forms the structure of the wire but the frequency with which it needs to be cast.”
Michelle frowned. “Why can’t the spell be just cast on the whole batch of wire?”
“You were there when the team was working on a batch. Each unicorn is seated in front of a window into the liquid nitrogen bath because the spell is only effective in a very small window of opportunity. There is a critical range of temperature where the crystalline structure can be formed successfully. Too hot and the restructuring won’t hold; too cold and the crystals form incorrectly. The alloy is extruded into the bath at a rate such that the wire that is exposed between the feed and pickup rollers is always within that range. A timing light lets the unicorn operator know when to cast the forming spell. There’s a little bit of overlap to ensure continuity.”
“And if the unicorn miscasts, then that section fails to be superconductive, right?” Michelle asked.
“Correct. We have, however, managed to salvage several batches by cutting out the affected section and selling the smaller spools of wire.”
The woman nodded. “Those have helped me considerably, but we still need to reduce the failure rate. The process seems straightforward enough, so why so many bad batches?”
Precious frowned and started to reply before pausing, then reaching for a drawer in her desk instead. She pulled out a folder, shuffled through its contents, and pulled out a sheet of paper which she put in front of Michelle. “What do you make of that?”
The woman’s brow furrowed as she tried to make sense of the intricate pattern on the paper. “What is this?”
“That is a visual representation of the superconductor spell. A skilled unicorn not only has to memorize it, she or he must also cast it perfectly literally hundreds of times per batch in quick succession. The mares have always been more successful at it not because they’re smarter but because the average female is able to perform better at repetitive processes than the average male. Even then, it only takes the slightest distraction to throw off a casting, hence the failure rate. And the job is difficult enough that we’ve only managed to recruit three unicorns to do it thus far.”
Michelle recognized the indirect dig at her screw-up and choked back a snarky response. She was here to solve a problem, not create another. “Can the spell be made more efficient, or divided into sections cast by multiple unicorns?”
“Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer have optimized the spell as much as possible. As this version stands, it must be cast by a single unicorn and repeated with precise timing. Only an alicorn can supply the power needed for continuous casting, and even Twilight couldn’t sustain a feed rate increase of more than ten percent.”
“Alright, it sounds like this is a process that is ripe for automation. I know about enchanted objects that perform tasks such as the portal and the adaptation spell. Why can’t something similar be done in this case?”
The earth pony considered her words before replying. “First, you need to understand the limitations of enchanted objects. They tend to fall into two broad categories – low-power continuous effect items such as this desk lamp. They draw on ambient mana to operate without an auxiliary power source.”
The woman noticed that there was no power cord to the lamp. “And the second category?”
“High-power or high-usage items. The portals that you use to get from Earth to Equus use a lot of power. That’s why they are normally in standby mode until they’re needed. They’re always recharging when not being used. Any process that requires continuous re-application of a spell needs to be supplied with an unrestricted power source. While that may be simple with electricity, it’s not a straightforward situation with mana flow.”
“The superconductor process is in the second category, I gather?” Michelle queried.
“Very much so,” Precious confirmed. “You are aware of electromagnetic interference?” Upon Michelle’s nod, the mare continued. “Without going into the details, there is an equivalent in arcano-thaumaturgic interference. Transmission of mana can disrupt spells unless carefully constrained. There is a good reason why enchanted objects tend to be either gems or precisely crafted talismans.”
“Okay, but I haven’t heard yet why an enchantment can’t be used in this case.”
“Gems shatter in the extreme cold when mana is pumped into them. Amulets are less efficient at transferring power, and that translates into heat which seriously upsets the careful balance of temperature at the crucial phase.”
Michelle frowned. “Can’t the spell be managed outside of the liquid nitrogen environment?”
“Of course. That’s exactly what the unicorns do.” Precious tapped the spell page. “This describes not only the crystal-forming process but also the projection of the power to enact it. The unicorns focus both on the wire which confines all the effects to it with very little heat loss to the nitrogen.”
“I meant by an enchantment,” the woman clarified.
“We’ve tried, but that’s where arcano-thaumaturgic interference raises its ugly head. We can either project the power or the forming spell, but not both. Enchantments are notorious for being large area effects rather than high-precision techniques. Turn a mirror into an interdimensional gateway? No problem! Precisely modify the fine crystal structure of an alloy? Good luck with that!”
Michelle sat back in her chair and frowned. “I don’t get it. If it’s so hard to affect something that small, how does the adaptation enchantment on the portals change our species? Surely it affects us on a genetic level?”
Precious shrugged. “I’m neither a mage nor an expert on biology. I can say that it’s likely to be a matter of sheer power – kind of like comparing an abacus to this computer on my desk. Pump that much mana into the wire forming process and you’d vaporize the nitrogen.”
Michelle groaned in frustration. “There’s got to be a way around that problem.”
“For once, we agree. The answer hasn’t been found yet though.”
The human folded her arms across her chest and her head lowered as she tried to think of any possibility that had not been brought up yet. The spell diagram sat firmly in her view, virtually taunting her. Then she had a thought. “How accurate is this pattern?” she asked.
“It’s a precise representation. In fact, it’s an inactive form of the spell itself.”
Michelle’s mouth curled into a hint of a smile. “And you’re saying that the two biggest problems are accurately repeating this complex spell and providing power for it, correct?”
“Essentially, yes.”
“Have you tried a template?”
The mare frowned and tilted her head. “What do you mean?”
“You said that the problem with an amulet was pushing power into it, but not that it was affected by the cold, unlike the gem. What if you have an amulet made of that diagram to serve as a template? It could shape the spell while the unicorn is the power source. That way, they don’t have to constantly reproduce the spell with 100% accuracy for the duration of the batch. Instead, they can concentrate on triggering it at the correct moment while supplying the precisely applied energy. Their workload would be considerably reduced, thus enabling them to run more batches. And you might be able to find more unicorns that can handle that lesser burden to work the unused stations.”
Precious Goods stared off into space for a long moment. “That… might work. At least, I can’t see a reason right now why it can’t.” The mare pushed back her chair and got down on all four hooves. She walked around her desk to stand next to Michelle. “Thank you, Ms. Van Dijk. If this performs as you hope, it will be a major leap forward for production. I’m a little surprised that nopony has thought of it before.”
“You tend to think of things in terms of magical processes while I’m from a world where those don’t exist, so we have had to think of different ways of doing things.”
“You may be right. I’m going to see the engineering team right now to discuss this with them. I will let you know what they have to say. Thank you again.” The earth pony headed out of the office.
Michelle was going to ask if her ban could be lifted but decided to wait to find out the results of her suggestion. Precious might be a lot more receptive if the template idea worked. So, she headed back to her Houston office.
It took three days to prototype and test the new set-up at one of the unused stations. Artful Twist was given the task of trying a full production run and he reported that it was much simpler and easier to use. He did not need a long break to recover, unlike with the original method. He soon started producing twice as much flawless wire as his mare colleagues. Those two were allowed to do a test batch each before returning to their normal stations while the engineers set about modifying the rest of the stations. Then three more unicorns were recruited to bring the full complement of work-stations online.
Michelle was extremely pleased that her idea had worked. The backlog of orders had quickly begun to reduce and the woman was already considering ramping up her sales efforts for the material once more. With the pressure from the debacle with the stallion behind her, Michelle was able to relax for the first time in ages. Precious Goods had lifted her ban, albeit with the caveat that her interactions with the workers would be monitored and should be kept to a minimum. That was fine with the woman – the novelty of the magical world had worn off and she preferred to focus on her sales. She planned to only step onto the factory floor occasionally to get a firsthand look into production hold-ups and perhaps suggest other ways to improve performance in different areas.
With the increased availability and reliability of delivery of the precious wire came an influx of orders for the wondrous material. This might have caused a problem except for the new production units coming online at Ponyville and then Vanhoover. Harmonic Composites’ other advanced materials and devices were still selling well, but as more and more manufacturers found uses for the room-temperature superconductor, demand for the product kept increasing. This kept a smile on Michelle’s face for weeks… until it didn’t.
Demand was beginning to exceed production once again. Not satisfied with the status quo, Michelle frowned over the latest inventory reports. While manufacturing had maintained a consistent output, she could not help but notice that the other factories were producing slightly more. Of course, they had new machines that had been built and optimized in light of Michelle’s new technique, so it was no surprise that they performed better than the ones that had been retrofitted. Still, it was not acceptable to the woman that the original source was being one-upped. Between that and the ever-increasing sales, she felt compelled to correct that situation. With another technological improvement currently out of the question, that just left the unicorn element. Somehow, she had to find a way to motivate increased performance without repeating her earlier error. Then a thought occurred to her. “Let’s see how much spirit of competition there is among ponies,” she said softly to herself.
Tyrone paused to peer at the whiteboard that Michelle was setting up next to the break room the next day before the morning shift. The hippogriff’s eyebrow rose as he saw what she was writing. “What’s this about?” he asked her.
“Just production figures of superconductor wire from all three facilities as measured in meters per day,” Michelle replied with a smirk.
“And the point of posting them?”
“Pride. Let’s go upstairs and watch what happens.”
Tyrone followed Michelle up onto the balcony that let the factory manager oversee operations. They watched as the day-shift employees arrived to drop off their lunch boxes and other possessions in the lockers and then the night-shift employees came to fetch theirs. Each group had a certain number who looked at the board curiously before carrying on. However, a few unicorns took particular notice.
“So – what now?” asked the hippogriff.
“Come back at quitting time and we’ll see,” the cat woman replied with a mysterious smile.
Tyrone sighed, resigned to dealing with his colleague’s mode of operation.
The two did come back just before the end of the shift to once again watch the factory staff coming and going. Michelle nudged Tyrone when one unicorn stallion stopped at the whiteboard. Blue Collar picked up a marker pen, crossed out one set of figures, and wrote something underneath before continuing on his way. When the employees had finished coming and going, the pair went over to the board to see what had been written there.
The hippogriff’s eyebrows rose. “Huh! That’s about a 12% increase in output. How did that happen?”
“It’s amazing what a little motivation can achieve. Our team doesn’t want to be seen as the worst performers despite working with older equipment.”
“But will they keep up that level of output every day?”
Michelle smirked. “Once the other factory’s teams learn of this, do you think they’ll let this situation stand?”
“Ah! I see! You’re setting the unicorns up to compete against each other.” Tyrone nodded thoughtfully. “As long as it doesn’t get out of hand, that should make for a nice boost in production.”
“Don’t be so pessimistic. Humans have always competed with each other and I don’t see it being so different for ponies.”
“You’ve been very wrong once, Michelle. Just keep an eye on the situation, okay?”
“Of course! Sheesh! You’re such a worry-wart!” Michelle then strode away.
Tyrone shook his head and made a mental note to check with Precious Goods to have her monitor the state of affairs. Then he hastened back to the office to change for his flying lesson for which he was running late. Now that his wife had joined him for those classes, she was unforgiving of wasting the limited time that they had for that activity.
Michelle’s predictions were soon borne out. The two other factories upped their output as well. That prompted the Baltimare team to work even harder to regain their lead. As the teams competed to get ahead of the others, production output kept increasing which made Michelle smile in satisfaction. Best yet, the spirit of camaraderie was extended to her and she had been invited to celebrate at a local bar with her team. The unicorns looked like they needed more sleep, but they assured Michelle that their capacities would increase the more they exercised their talent. The woman felt that her situation had turned around much for the better and her standing compared to Tyrone had vastly improved. The man was undoubtedly a competent manager but he lacked that extra something that she believed she had. After all, it was she who had boosted production by inspiring the workers, not him.
It was only a little more than a week before the first complaints came in about ponies cutting corners on safety to out-compete the other sites. When Precious Goods informed her about them, Michelle merely scoffed.
“Competition is good and there’s nothing wrong with ponies putting in the extra effort. Just have everypony review the safety guidelines. I know for a fact that humans have been able to increase production while maintaining safety standards, so I can’t see why ponies can’t.”
Precious did implement a safety review and passed on the advice to the other facilities. For a while, all they had to contend with were extra-tired unicorns, but high production continued unabated. Then, near the end of the third week since implementing the competition, the factory manager called Michelle to tell her that she had shut down wire production.
“What?! Why? We need that wire!”
“Blue Collar suffered from horn burn-out and he collapsed unconscious. He’s been taken to the hospital.”
Michelle’s jaw dropped, stunned. Eventually, she managed to say, “How bad is it?”
“He’s in a coma and, even if he comes out of it, he might never recover his abilities. It depends on how much damage has been done.”
“Oh, my god! I had no idea.”
“I told you that they were pushing safety limits, but you were so sure they could handle it that you kept encouraging them anyway. The others on his team look pretty haggard and I told them to take the rest of the day off. I’m not letting them work at breakneck speeds anymore.”
“Yes, of course. I… I’ll let the other facilities know what has happened and advise them to cut back too.”
“Good. Get that right at least.” Precious then hung up.
Michelle stared at the phone for a long moment before hanging up her end too. Her mind was awhirl with this development and, for once, she had no one to blame but herself. She gulped and shuddered before lifting the phone to call the other factories.
With that obligation completed, Michelle lowered her face into her hands and sobbed. “What the fuck have I done?!”
Michelle had put aside all her work and told Estelle to hold any calls. She was nursing a rapidly cooling mug of coffee when there was a knock on her office door. Before she could tell whoever it was to go away, the door opened and admitted two very familiar faces that she had hoped not to see quite yet.
“So, you’ve heard what happened?” Michelle said in a dull tone.
Phil Martine nodded. “We got a full report from Precious Goods before coming here.”
“It’s all my fault,” Michelle said with a heavy heart. “I didn’t consider the consequences. I’d like to offer my resignation.”
Rosa Martine shook her head. “No, chica, we’ve invested far too much in your on-the-job training to give up on you now. Besides, you are not entirely to blame. It’s not up to you to know the limitations of every Equian species, unicorns in this case. You did advise a safety review, and Precious and the other factory managers are well versed in risk management. They should have dialed things back before now and informed you why it was necessary.”
Phil sighed. “Unfortunately, your earlier screw-up didn’t help. While you won over most ponies with the new production technique, there were still a couple who wanted to see you suffer greater consequences for your actions. They turned a blind eye to what was happening and, regrettably, that included one who should have reported what was happening to both us and you.”
“That does not absolve me for what I’ve done. I might have killed or maimed that stallion!”
“Blue Collar was not on the power level of Artful Twist, but he tried to keep up with him anyway out of sheer stubborn pride. He should have known better. On the other hand, safety procedures are in place to prevent any being from exceeding their limitations. It’s upon both you and the factory managers to see that those procedures are adhered to. We’ll be having a word with Tyrone about being a bit more proactive also.”
Michelle looked at Phil wearily. “Are you telling me all this just to make you feel better? Because I don’t. If I hadn’t implemented that stupid competition, Blue Collar wouldn’t be in the hospital right now.”
Rosa said, “What my husband is trying to say is that we must all act for the safety of everyone. You may have been the initial cause, but there were several other points of failure. There’s a reason why you are in a probationary position and that is to learn how to deal with a whole other world and its customs, capabilities, and varied mindsets. Some people do worse than others. Shariq didn’t even last a day. You certainly got off to a bad start but we believe that you have potential. We still want you working for us. However, your impulsiveness shows that you need to be overseen, which is why you will not be getting the senior position here at the end of the probationary period.”
Michelle hung her head. “I suppose that’s fair.”
Phil said, “We’re going to arrange to have HR send someone to train you to deal better with the various species. Perhaps we should have done that sooner, but hindsight is 20/20.”
“HR? Human Relations? What does Miss Heartstrings have to do with this?” Michelle queried with a lifted eyebrow.
“I believe it’s called Harmony Relations in Equestria,” Rosa said with a smile. “Anyway, take the remainder of the day off, rest, and consider how you are going to approach your job from now on. Let today’s events be a wake-up call.”
Michelle rose from her chair. “I’ll do that. I promise to do better, Mrs. and Mr. Martine.”
Phil said, “Good. Now, we need to go. We have a hospital to visit.”
After her bosses had left, Michelle murmured to herself, “Hopefully, I’ll also be allowed to visit the hospital when Blue Collar regains consciousness. I have a huge apology to make.”
# # # # # # # # #
We're nearing the end of the probationary period and thus the story. Michelle has learned the harshest of lessons but hopefully she'll be a better person in future because of it.
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I was worried in the previous chapters about her, but she really has come around as someone who does deserve the position she was given and will certainly work hard to keep it. Of course, she is also impulsive and sometimes misguided but apparently smart enough to hopefully learn from her mistakes.
Someone, I don't remember who, proposed that safety regulations are like a block of swiss cheese. Accidents don't make it through because of one mistake; a lot of metaphorical holes had to line up.
Considering if you are willing to put your health on line just to be the best in something then you deserve what you get. You need have a line you will never cross and your health should be one of those.
11359302
And yet, in real life, some people do cross that line. That's why safety protocols are needed and enforced.
When one can not understand the basics I think one is unsuitable for a position.
Some are simply not good for it...
Others need a lot of guidance or rethink their way of going it.
This might be my age (or brain fog, or fatigue, or something else entirely) showing, but I don't recall Michelle getting into the deep darks about something. Looks like I'm going to have to go back to reading.
I still find it an excellent chapter.
Sad about the Demons, but... neither the Hawks nor the Bombers made it into the top 8, so you're one up on me there.
still think Michelle is taking a little too much of the blame here. she told them to review safety stuff and the unicorns ignored it. blame lies with the lower managers and the unicorn in question
Goldfur, I can't scan code when reading this on phone. Why not just post url to your kofi?
That production competition? I remember that from some of my father's Dale Carnegie class materials. Wonder if...? (Nah - she went to the "How to Lose Friends and Antagonize People" class.)
I'm relieved to see that Michelle is capable of learning, though. I'm also glad that she's willing to stand up and accept responsibility when things go sideways.
11359447
I have an iPhone and it worked for me.
Does anyone else have difficulty with the QR Code?
Progress
Yeah
He has a reason to, and it has nothing to do with Michelle's previous issue.
Competition among humans has indeed led to improvements within various fields , can't deny that
However it has also led to a lot of health issues caused by overworking, stress, lack of sleep, as well as overuse of medicine, performance enhancing substances and similar things
Do that, things like this can easily get out of hand
Red Flag
Red Flags, bad things incoming
And even then incidents still happen, incidents that can range from minor to fatal
And these kinds of jobs, as well as the risks that come with them, are still new to the ponies so they don't really know what to look out for
While it is true that you did not consider the consequences, this is not all your fault.
Are you responsible for introducing the competition? Yes.
Did you ignore several warning signs? Yes.
However ⬇
This 🔝
Sounds like a really good idea
Lessons have been learned, growth has been made
Ah the mistakes of the young.
Really though, they're halfway to total automation. It's only a matter of time.
Hey look, a new middle manager actually owned up and learned from a mistake! Don't see that every day.
Oh boy. youd have thought this being so common in industry, and the after effects, that they wouldve stomped on it a lot sooner. Then again, how many simulators bother explicitly plotting out the range of variations around the optimum processing point so Legal Proceedings can just show to Dee Judge the plotted map on the walls showing, this is you doing a good job. this is your family at your closed casket funeral if youre smart enough to think you can push it.
Trouble is with Deadlines, noone enforces them. In fact, you shouldnt even be able to approach a deadline, as thats riding the edge, which is gambling with the companies sucessful existance. Let that propagate for many decades and it becomes Da Wey.
11359447
Ack! I forgot to include a link in the text like I usually do. Fixed now.
11359307
It's also why they were invented in the first place because health and safety barely matter before it was put into law and the business owners only cared about themselves. She made a mistake because of cultural differences and they should have reviewed these differences before anyone agreed to a trial period but holding a grudge to the point where someone is getting hurt isn't the best way to handle anything. .
Good chapter!
Well now, it seems like the b!tch is capable of reasonable guilt after all. Honestly I'm surprised she didn't try to get Blue Collar dismissed so his medical benefits would be nullified. This seems VERY different from the heartless, needlessly antagonistic misandry we saw in earlier chapters. A remarkably swift change, perhaps unrealistically so. Still, certain extremes can manifest extreme changes. If she actually has cut back on the misandry, then good. Her idea for streamlining production was brilliant, no argument. It just REALLY rubbed me the wrong way when she went into full-blown Katsuki Bakugo mode on that poor stallion... personality of flaming sewage and all. I've seen femenazis do that kind of crap in real life and because of their position nobody can stop them. Nobody, neuter, female, or male should be treated differently.
11361898
While Michelle has been biased against males and often belittles them, Blue Collar's injury shocked her past her prejudices. This is a person who has never encountered an industrial accident before and reality hit her hard.
11362709 Good. Those are nothing to sniff at. A young man working in the APLOLIC Production Plant where I guard lost his hand in an accident.
I hope she has a change of heart from this. She doesn't need to be a simpering wuss or anything, I just want her to treat everyone equally.
Since the teams seem to have reached their peak performance levels, and they now know where the redline zone begins, then only practical means to improve production output is to begin increasing the staff so they can spread out and handle the load.
Also, as an added safety factor, they should only allow the work to be at about 80-90% of the maximum peak.
Just like when we exercise, we don't get stronger by maxing out and collapsing in exhaustion, but rather finding that sweet spot just below the max and going for increased repetitions. This, of course, leads to a new maximum, so the solution to improve there is to back off again slightly and increase repetitions at the new lower level, and repeat that process. Eventually, one finds the best of both worlds where performance simply cannot be improved any further, so at that point, the best that can be hoped for is maintaining continuous function at that rate and load.
The problem with competition, especially in an industrial, commercial or even social strata is usually that it is beneficial to that strata as a whole, but it is also universally brutal on the individual. rapid progress most often onn happens the cost if the health, sanity or even lives of those who compete, or those that live long enough to become an example of the downsides.
I don't think Michelle can actually learn from her mistakes. She better off dead.