Chapter 2937: The Rapidly Advancing Bicycle Factory

After leaving the Government Hall, Xia Duo went to the Industrial Zone southeast of Linshui Town as usual to inspect the production status of various factories, especially the situation after the introduction of the Alchemy Array.

The first factory he visited was the territory's Bicycle factory. Just as he entered, Kaide, the Chief Official of the Logistics Department who had accompanied him, summoned Meierke, the person in charge of the factory.

"The Lord is here for an inspection; you introduce the factory's recent production situation."

"Yes."

Meierke was an honest and loyal middle-aged man. He was still a bit nervous seeing Xia Duo, but encouraged by Kaide, his introduction became increasingly fluent despite starting out stuttering:

"My Lord, what you are seeing now is the Bicycle assembly workshop, which adopts the latest assembly line design. Don't look at the workbenches where the workers are currently assembling as stationary; in fact, their surfaces are covered with a layer of Magic Glue.

"Once they finish assembling the parts in their hands, the operator at one end of the assembly line will transmit power along with the Steam Engine, moving the Magic Glue pads as a whole backward by a certain distance.

"So, the Bicycles you see being assembled on this line now are gradually becoming complete from front to back."

Xia Duo was curious that the factory area had actually managed to create an assembly line. He had only mentioned the concept before; he didn't expect the territory to have such capable people. He had originally thought this thing would definitely require Magic to participate.

He didn't expect it to be just a purely mechanical device powered by steam.

The Alchemy Array here is actually similar to a 3D printer on Earth, except that it requires a Mage to operate it; ordinary people cannot operate it for the time being.

"The current production capacity is about ten thousand units per month!"

That is to say, in less than half a year, every person in the territory could be equipped with a Bicycle. Such production capacity is obviously somewhat excessive because Bicycles are durable goods. After half a year, there would be no potential buyers, so wouldn't the factory have to shut down?

After leaving the assembly workshop, Xia Duo went to see several precision manufacturing workshops, which were actually workshops equipped with Alchemy Arrays. Each workshop was equipped with at least one Mage responsible for mass-producing Bicycle parts.

And then there is the chain. He didn't see a chain during his last experience. It seems the introduction of the Alchemy Array has brought a brand-new design to the Bicycle factory!

The production efficiency of ordinary people is far inferior to the Alchemy Array, unless the number of assembly lines in the assembly workshop is increased, but in that case, the huge production capacity could not be digested within the territory at all.

To expand production capacity, one only needs to have Mages stationed there while increasing the number of assembly lines.

In the past, it wasn't that chains or ratchets couldn't be designed, but that crafting such delicate parts purely by hand was too inconvenient. While there were master blacksmiths who could make them, what about the efficiency? What about the cost?

He had personally ridden the Bicycles manufactured by the territory before. For an Earthling like him who had experienced mature Bicycle designs, that experience was not very good.

The thing that had the greatest impact on the experience among them should be the ratchet. Without a ratchet, it's like riding a fixed-gear bike. If this design scheme were very suitable for human use, then Bicycles on Earth would indeed all be of this design.

Xia Duo didn't stay long in the precision manufacturing workshop of the Bicycle factory because there wasn't a single Mage there right now. Currently, no Mage had signed a long-term contract with the Bicycle factory; they were all temporary part-timers, and the personnel were not fixed.

Most industrial equipment is complex to operate. If one doesn't understand Magic, there is always a barrier. The difficulty for ordinary people to learn is more than doubled. If one really had that time and energy to learn, it would be better to learn Magic first!

If the quantity is too small and the price is too high, then it would be better to go to the station and wait for the steam shuttle!

It's not that ordinary people cannot start the Alchemy Array; if one doesn't consider the quality of the finished product, ordinary people can of course also make things in a nearly random state.

Unfortunately, that is not the case!

But regardless, the performance of the factory had already completely exceeded Xia Duo's expectations. He was naturally not stingy with praise, while also putting forward his vision:

And now, he actually saw a ratchet on the assembly line!

It is too difficult to get ordinary people to produce qualified finished products according to blueprints like Mages, because ordinary people cannot operate them directly, so it is necessary to first create a set of instruction sets and then tell ordinary people the specific meaning of these instructions.

Xia Duo nodded. Just after walking two steps, he suddenly noticed a special part in the Bicycle production process—the ratchet!

"Mm."

If a Mage is willing to take the task, then they come to the Bicycle factory to work overtime. If no one takes the task, then the factory temporarily stops.

"Yes, My Lord, I will definitely work hard with everyone!"

So Xia Duo had never thought about designing an Alchemy Array for ordinary people to operate, or in other words, a magical version of a 3D printer. Other similar industrial equipment is the same; there will be no version for ordinary people for the time being, and there might not even be one in the future.

This is obviously the function of the ratchet!

Once the parts produced here are assembled, if there are still production tasks, then the factory manager Meierke will submit an application to Kaide, and then Kaide will go to the Tower of Time to post the task.

Of course, that is only the finished product. The birth process behind the finished product certainly cannot do without the existence of Mages, otherwise, ordinary people could not make this Magic Glue conveyor belt alone.

This obviously goes against Xia Duo's original intention for designing the Bicycle, which was to facilitate the travel of the territory's residents, especially the current interaction between the residents of the northern and southern parts of Great Xia Territory and Savile Territory.

Then train ordinary people on what kind of design requires what kind of instructions, and only then can one cultivate a usable Alchemy Array operator.

Xia Duo himself felt after experiencing it that a Bicycle still needs a ratchet to be ridden comfortably. As for other accessories, such as the shape and height of the handlebars and seat, they are not as critical as the ratchet.

This assembly line had a simple testing step after the chain was installed. The worker would rotate the Bicycle pedals forward and backward. What Xia Duo just saw was that when the pedals were reversed, the wheels would not follow the reversal, but would continue to move forward.

So according to what Kaide said, the Bicycle factory's five precision manufacturing workshops currently use the method of hiring temporary Mages, which is just right, allowing one assembly line to have work to do long-term.

This Civilian Magic Artifact is the same; Civilian Magic Artifacts are simple to operate, mostly having only a switch function. Let alone ordinary people, even Mages prefer something easier.

"Very good! Keep it up. In addition, the concept of division of labor on the assembly line is very important. In the future, the process must be refined to reduce the difficulty of operation for workers. Of course, in this process, we must also actively cultivate research talent. It is a manual assembly line now, but it may not necessarily be a fully automated production line in the future!"

Calculated by cost, cultivating such an operator is not as good as cultivating a new Mage!

"Then how many Bicycles can this factory produce per month currently?" Xia Duo asked.