Chapter 161 – Essential Lateral Thinking

Thompson & French’s Printworks resides on Princes Street, four hundred yards from Eglinton Toll. I proceed discreetly to Alexander Campbell’s office.

“So we have a problem?”, I ask Alexander, who is nose deep in reams of paper.

Alexander doesn’t look up, “We have tried everything to lower production costs.”

“How long have you been sitting here?”

“Nine hours.”

“Would you solve it if you worked another nine hours?”

Alexander throws his pencil on the desk in defeat.

“Let’s go for a walk to clear our heads.”, I said.

We proceed to the main road, turn right and stand outside the adjacent factory unit, “Deconstruct the problem?”

“We’ve met all requirements. However, our unit cost matches the ceiling price.”

“However you have based this cost on a demand assumption? Who set that?”

Alexander looks baffled, “Robert calculated it at the start.”

“And if that assumption changed?”

“We could produce more, increase supply and reduce our production cost.”

We stand in front of the high fence, which conceals the adjacent factory unit, “I present the answer to our problem. This unit will treble our capacity and increase our supply considerably.”

Alexander is puzzled, “But, how will we sell more?”

“Mass transportation is the future, and every business on the tram route will benefit. These businesses are the key to resolving our demand problem.”