6 April 2788
Panpour (Federated Suns)
Colin Blaine had to admit that Walter Ovilla knew how to manufacture weapons of war, and he did not let a flawed product go out the door to a customer. He had seen several Manticore Heavy Tanks fail some portion of quality control which were either fixed no matter how difficult or stripped and then scrapped to be turned into a new Manticore. Plus, he seemed to have the respect of his workers, even spending extra money to add a fourth complete shift worth of workers so that time off and shorter workdays could be provided to his employees. All while maintaining a steady 210 per day average production rate from the massive complex. There were four massive buildings, one where the hulls were assembled, power plants installed and tracks put on, they were then moved to the second building where the turrets were installed, weapons mounted and all the electrical systems were installed, the third building saw paint, final quality control testing and then the fourth building where they were checked once again, ran thru a field testing phase before being prepared for shipping. Each building could hold 100 Manticore at any one time but with the four shifts working each turned out an average of 27 Manticore per shift.
The massive tanks were assembled six abreast across the massive buildings with ample work room provided to keep workers from getting hurt. He had spent a day just watching each step of the operation since he had been here, just trying to learn this side of the business. The actual making of the product to be sold to a paying customer. From the enormous foundry that converted the mountains of raw ores to the testing ranges and then to the packing the 60-ton tanks into shipping containers for transport to the AFFS warehouses. He had been impressed at every step in the process. He looked at the three new large buildings that were almost complete, where already raw metal was being stacked waiting for production to begin on building Heavy Tracked APC, Heavy Wheeled APC and Heavy Hover APC. Each with a planned daily production of 200 each.
The Buhallin and Ulston workers had not been idle as they had pitched in and helped the main production of Manticore wherever they were needed while others helped train the newest hires as best they could on what to expect once actual production started which was planned for June. But today, he had other business to attend to as directed by HPG message.
His car stopped at the main gate to Jalastar Aerospace's just as massive complex and after his identity being confirmed was told where to park and what building to enter. Entering the Corporate Headquarters, he signed in at the front desk and had to wait roughly twenty minutes before being taken to meet Reginald Hawkins, CEO of Jalastar Aerospace.
"Reginald Hawkins, so I finally get to meet someone from the Mackolla Enterprises. I must admit that you folks came out of nowhere and now I seem to constantly see some new acquisition. I do not plan to sell Jalastar Aerospace if that is why your here."
"No sir, simply a business proposal. Colin Blaine, Senior Vice President of Mackolla Enterprises. I am actually here to see about supplying you with weapons. Jalastar seems to be making inquiries for additional weapons or even license agreements for those weapons. I think we can fill that need you seem to have."
"That is all open information. What can you provide and how much can you provide, that is the main question." Reginald Hawkins said
"We can provide everything you need in whatever quantities you need. You make a wide range of products. Condor Hover Tanks, Sparrowhawk, Centurion Aero Fighters, Comet, Meteor, Defender Conventional fighters. While you seem to make all the Sparrowhawk weapons in house, you outsource all the others. Why?" Colin Blaine asked
"License, most want too much for the license. Cheaper to just buy it from them and pay the shipping." Reginald Hawkins replied honestly
"Well, we can provide everything you need. But I would need to get some accurate numbers of how many of each you build to finalize any deal." Colin Blaine said
"We are still ramping up our production for the AFFS but...." He paused and rifled his desk until he found what he was looking for and handed several pages over for Colin Blaine to read instead. "It will be faster this way."
March 2788 Production
Condor Hover Tank - 111
Sparrowhawk - 30
Centurion - 40
Comet - 60
Meteor - 60
Defender - 60
"Okay, not bad, so we will skip the Sparrowhawk, you already build the weapons in house. So..." Colin Blaine paused as he pulled out a small notepad and started doing some calculating. "We will call it 120 AC-5, 240 Medium Laser, 360 SRM-4, 60 AC-10, 60 SRM-2 and 120 LRM-5. Does that sound right to you sir?"
"That sounds about right, for a single month's production and we are still ramping up. So those numbers are going to go even higher." Reginald Hawkins replied
"Not a problem, we too are still ramping up and rebuilding capacity. But we can handle your current needs easily. We will even assist you in making our models work with your products, no extra charge." Colin Blaine said
"Sixty-three million per month and for the first three months we will cover the shipping costs. Our introductory offer sir, it is a good deal for both of us. Call it a trial offer, you're not happy at the end of the three months and we will part ways. No harm no foul. If your happy, we can sit down and negotiate a longer-term contract that benefits both of us. How does that sound?" Colin Blaine asked
"Sounds a little too good to be true if you want honesty. But I am going to need the first lot pretty quick sir." Reginald Hawkins said
"Then let's get a quick contract written up so everything is all legal like. I need to send a message out as soon as we are done. You will not be disappointed, I promise you." Colin Blaine replied with a smile
10 April 2788
Sparrevohn (Federated Suns)
The LRM and SRM production lines had been up and running for three weeks after being installed and fine-tuned by her people. This was the first week that they went to maximum production for 200 tons per day as the workers new to the new lines learned their jobs better. But still they had manufactured a decent number with 2,950 tons LRM and 2,950 SRM ammunition worth 168 million, which should bring in about 23 million profits.
New production equipment had been ordered from Achernar Heavy Industries, since Trimble Precision was overloaded with work trying to get everything manufactured that was needed. It would be June before the first equipment arrived and the last would not arrive until August. The best they could buy would only manufacture 100 tons per day, but they were all multipurpose lines that could manufacture any size autocannon round and it was the same for the LRM and SRM equipment. The LBX-10 machinery would have to come from Trimble Precision. So, they had ordered double the number of machines to reach their goals.
Gulkana (Federated Suns)
Thomas Haminashi had been quicker on the order pad than Helen Froy and had gotten his order into Achernar Heavy Industries ahead of her. He had ordered the best equipment that could be had from them, but it was not close to what he was used to with a maximum production of 50 units per day which had forced him to quadruple the number of machines to reach the goal of 200 per day of every type of autocannon, LRM launcher and SRM launcher. LBX-10 and Streak SRM-2 would have to come from Trimble Precision.
He had been forced to message Gerald Mitchell for more money to handle payment for the extra equipment plus enlarging their factory complex to handle all of the extra machinery. The first machines should arrive mid-May with the last around September. He figured they would be at full production numbers by years end on everything but LBX-10 and Streak SRM-2 launchers.
Devalan (Federated Suns)
Jason Ryan smiled as the Exostar factory purred like a happy kitten now that all the machines were fully operational. Last month had seen a heavy increase in production as production machinery had been returned to service and this month would be the first where every production line was back in action for the entire month. He glanced at the March production numbers and smiled again.
Exostar Laser Tech March Production
Exostar ER Large Laser - 2,280
Exostar Large Laser - 2,200
Martell Medium Laser - 3,500
Martell Medium Pulse - 2,250
Exostar Small Laser - 1,500
Worth 678 million with a projected profit margin of 19% for 184 million, and this was just a partial month. He had the order from Colin Blaine on Panpour and it would barely scratch his stockpile. But he was expecting a visit any day from the AFFS Quartermaster, and he hoped they purchased all he had and all he could produce.
