Chapter 5

Steve (Friday)

I awoke at 3:45 this morning with the beginning to bulge Mickey almost lying on top of me. Mickey had become very dependent, constantly wanting reassurance from me. I suppose that was normal for a girl that was pregnant. Sue and Mercy were always pushing Mickey under me to give her another dose of what got her stomach to swell. Kathy was acting as if she were almost jealous that Mickey was pregnant and she wasn't.

Kathy even told me, "You know, what I feel is nuts, but I wish I could give you another baby. I've only given you Greg and Bonita. I need to give you at least two more."

I would hug and cuddle Kathy every time she brought that up, and tell her how much the babies she gave me meant. I had to tell her, "Baby, you can't expect your body to keep producing babies year after year. You've done your share. Just look at the wonderful kids you've given me, our family, and this world."

Kathy would always smile and hug me tight when I would tell her this. She was happy for Mickey when she turned up pregnant, but it made Kathy want to reproduce again. It's a good thing her gears had been stripped or she would have been manufacturing another kid.

I relieved Mercy, who was acting tired. She said, "There's been entirely too much excitement around here lately. There's fresh coffee in the coffeemaker on the bar. I'm on my way to bed."

Absolutely nothing was happening. There were hardly any radar targets, even with the long range unit set out to fifty miles. Just the merchant ship traffic we had identified before. The weather seemed to be closing in a little with the wind picking up and the seas getting a little heavier. According to the Internet, the front we knew was coming was getting close, but there was still no rain on the scope.

I had fresh coffee ready for Dewey when he came on at six. I did a deck tour to check rigging and enjoyed a cup of coffee with my good friend.

After breakfast with the family, I called the shop to talk to Tiny. His first words were "Hey, what's with all the interaction with the Coast Guard. Our guys on the boats heard the chatter and have been calling me constantly for the last two days."

I explained what had happened and tried to make it sound as if it wasn't a big deal. Tiny scoffed at my explanation. "Don't try to kid a kidder. When I called the Coast Guard they said your boat caused over twenty casualties yesterday and you had saved almost two dozen refugees. The news people here have picked up the story and have been trying to get more background on you. They've been out to the yacht club and are using the Mercy Mercy as an example of the boat you're on now. You are in the news, Bud."

"That's enough about that, Tiny. What's happening that's really important?"

Tiny took a deep breath, "Well, let's see. Star published the new book of special tools and is shipping it with a video CD of how the originators made the tools. Dennis says he has some kind of breakthrough on miniaturization of the electric motor used to power the carts. He says it can be used in regular cars too. It supposedly uses only twenty percent of the power the current motor uses, but is more powerful than any we've created in the past.

"Mark is down on Chuck's island in Costa Rica. He had a bunch of carts shipped down there and has requested a whole lot of farm equipment. What's with that? I thought he was evaluating the need for wind turbines."

Tiny continued, "We're shipping what he asked for, along with a long list of other stuff. I think the man is going to set up a machine shop down there. He says he should set up an R&D center there because no one is there to bother anybody.

"Wes is flying around the countryside in a twin turbofan he built. Someone told me he has bought a couple of Canadian jet engines and is mounting them on a new creation he has. When I asked him about it, he told me, 'that one I'll sell to Cessna, Bombardier, or Hawker.' That's all he would tell me."

I asked, "Are there any problems?"

Tiny said, "If you mean real problems, no. If there are problems, yes, there are. Your Italian plant is oversold by about three hundred percent. It seems some sales people have gone out and really made some deals in order to keep the factory going. Then there is the Irish heavy lift rebuild plant. They are now over eighteen months behind. You should have a look at that while you're there."

Tiny continued, "All of our charter boats are so booked I can't even get a weekend out on the water. If I wanted to fly somewhere, I would have to try to schedule a lesson in a one fifty, as everything else is booked. You know Steve; we're really screwed. All of our equipment is committed and your people are flying commercial. Go figure."

"Sounds good, Tiny. Since you're so busy, what are you going to do for fun?"

Tiny laughed, "Easy, Henry and I have just bought another T-shirt factory. This is a really big one and has some great screen printing equipment. Henry made a deal on another knitting company too so we can now produce enough T-shirts to keep all the factories busy for a change. This next season, we will have enough T-shirts so we don't sell out every race. I want to have enough for mail order for a change."

As I was laughing, I asked, "So what is Phil up to?"

"He's causing trouble in Hawaii. He's made some kind of sale to the police departments over there for our three-wheeled wonder. We'll be shipping product over there from all of our stateside plants. The plant over there isn't fitted out for that cart yet. Ah, you probably need to know that he went to Guam before Hawaii, and made a deal with the military there for more of our three-wheeled police carts. He is expecting about three hundred to be shipped for all of the various bases over there. What do you think, should I revoke his sales license?"

Now I was really laughing. "Leave it to Phil to screw up a good recession. Well, work it out between all of our factories. See how Ireland and Italy are doing. Use them if you need to or can. Get Jeff to send someone to Hawaii to fit them with the three-wheeled cart line. They can have it set up while everyone else is still planning. We should go ahead with that offer from Hitachi and license the product to them. There's no way they'll let us open our doors there, but we can still make some good bucks on what they produce. Make sure our agreement has a non-compete for both sides."

Tiny said, "Jeff's been busy. Between the crazy Indian lady, Geraldine, and Jeff, they have come up with a new epoxy for fiberglass. This stuff melts the fiberglass together as if it was welded. The junction is really strong too. So far, it's withstood over a thousand pounds of pressure and still hasn't broken the connection. Gerry says the product has a lot of military applications and Jeff just says that it will make a do it yourselfer's day."

"Did I tell you we just sold Fox and Universal twenty new motorhomes? No one had them available, but we were able to pull stock from Canada, Chicago, St. Louis, and here to fill the order. How about that, our bid was just over six million and I thought we were going to be way too high. Instead, we were the only company that could deliver."

I had to stop him, "Tiny, you are having too much fun. If there aren't any problems, I'll go back to twiddling my thumbs. Damn, it sounds like you're having a great time."

"I am, Steve. Ruth is being especially foxy lately, if that is possible. We're all enjoying relying on each other since we already miss you guys. Charlie and Hank told me to say hi when you called. The kids all miss you too."

That'll choke you up. "Tiny, glad to hear everything is going well. I've only been gone a couple of days. How can so much happen?"

"You've been busy worrying about Chuck and getting ready to go on your trip. Now that you're gone, I can tell you everything that we've been doing. It just seems as if there is a lot going on, but it is an accumulation of stuff over the past week or two. There won't be as much to report the next time you call."

"Thanks for taking care of everything, Tiny. I'll give you a call in a couple of days. The ladies will probably talk to you all on the patio tonight and will be sending pictures of our confrontations."

I hung up on Tiny knowing he was taking care of business. I fooled with the Internet for a little while, before deciding to see what I could scrounge to snack on.

After a quick raid on the galley, I was thinking over the conversation with Tiny, I typed all of my thoughts on how to handle the sales in the Pacific, as well as the spike in Italy, into an e-mail to confirm what I knew. The place I didn't have any idea of how to handle was the super lift shop in Ireland. Perhaps we needed to close the cart plant and use the space for additional super lift rebuild. The plant that was just loafing along was the small plant in Germany. We had set that up as a way to pacify the politicos in Germany and not to be a major manufacturing location. Our labor cost was higher in Germany than Ireland or Italy, and the output per man-hour was less than at any of our plants anywhere. If we could get that plant to produce at the same level as our other locations, there was plenty of room to expand that location. We could fill it with what we would lose in Ireland and to possibly help the Italian plant catch up.

I needed a German to inspire Germans. I needed to find one.

Ding! I had a crazy German already. I wonder if he would enjoy running a plant? If he wanted, he could have his R&D shop in the plant that he runs. The man knows my "perfect" concept and understands that the quest for perfection often increases production. I picked up the sat phone and called the R&D building. The new secretary answered and I asked for Hans. Hans Griebling had been the first hire in our R&D shop. Abe had known him from Onan. The man had been a part of a talent exchange with Germany about ten years ago and had stayed.

"Speaking is Hans."

"Hi Hans. Its Steve, Steve Sharp."

"Hello, Mr. Sharp. What can the R&D shop do for you today? Mark is not here and Dennis is useless, only thinking of the time he will join you on vacation."

I smiled at that and said, "Actually, Hans, this is something for you if you would want the challenge."

"Ho, ho, oh boy, give me big challenge and I can go to town. What is it, Mr. Sharp?"

"It's Steve, Hans. What is happening is that I would like to increase the size and productivity of our German plant. They have not been able to produce the quality or quantity the other plants have. I was thinking it would take a German to inspire the Germans. I know your work ethic and I know how you pride yourself following my perfect principles. How would you like to run our German plant for a while to see how you like it?"

There was a pause that was so long, I was thinking I had lost the connection. Finally I heard Hans clear his throat and say, "This is no joke, right? You are asking me to go home to Germany and still work for S&S? You want me to be the boss of the plant in Germany and make it bigger and more productive? Is that right?

I could hear the strain in Hans' voice. "This is no joke, Hans. When I was trying to think who I could have take over and inspire an operation there, you were first in my mind. Would you like to try to run the place for S&S?"

"Yah, yah, I do, I will, yah, I want to do this. I want to make your plant in my home country the best in the world. I know to do that. A good German wants his work to be the best and to produce the most. I know how to do that."

I heard Hans take a deep breath, "When can I start? When can I go home to Germany? I have few family there any longer, but I will be meeting many new friends where the factory is. When can I begin?"

"Tell you what. I'll call Tiny to tell him my idea and get him going on sending Henry and Jeff over with you. Henry will work out the details of expanding the plant over there, and Jeff will make up the design for the line operation and robotics. You can spend your time evaluating the personnel there and decide who to keep and how to inspire the staff. I'll have Henry work with you to change management. It will be up to you whether you keep any of the management in place now."

Hans gushed, "Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am so excited. This is like a dream. I really like our S&S Company. That I can go home and still work for S&S is the best part of my dream. I will make that plant the best Mr. Sharp, er, ah, Steve."

"Good, Hans. I will see you in Germany in a couple of weeks. Now go, enjoy going home to Germany and make that plant one of our best."

I was really grinning when Sue came in. She asked, "What are you so happy about?"

As I dialed Tiny at the shop, I said, "I've had an inspiration and it has made someone very happy."

I held up a finger for Sue to wait a second, as I had asked for Tiny and was connected, "Hey, Tiny."

Tiny wanted to act indifferent, "Now what? Another mind bending surprise by the boss, huh?"

"I have had an inspiration. I've asked Hans from R&D to go over to Germany and run the plant there. I want you to send him with Henry and Jeff to pave the way for him. Henry will handle the plant expansion at that location and Jeff can design the new lines for production of new product. You know the stuff we need, so do it that way. Henry can also take care of any terminations and position changes that Hans feels are necessary. While they are doing that, get hold of our Ireland plant manager and set up the closing of the cart lines there. I want to use the building for increased super lift rebuild area. Ask Jeff if he can use any of the equipment from Ireland in Germany."

"Geez, you're trying to solve all the problems at once. What about the Pacific? Any ideas?"

"Nothing on the Pacific yet, but I'll work on it. Begin working the German thing quickly so I can see Hans in action while I'm over there. I'll even run over from Ireland to take a look. I can go again while we're in the Riviera."

Tiny said, "Well, now my fretting over everything going so smooth is over. I'll get started right away. I'll call Henry first, then round up Jeff to get an idea of his schedule."

"Thanks, Tiny. I'll work on the Pacific issue, but that may be one of those deals where we produce everywhere else to catch up there. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

I sat back and Sue, who had been standing next to me, sat on my lap. "You're not handling this vacation very well. You're barely over a shoot 'em up and you're making deals over the sat phone."

I told Sue, "You heard my end of that. When I called Hans to ask him, I thought he was going to cry. He was so excited about going to Germany and as he said, home, but he would still work for S&S. That clinched it for me. He knows our perfect philosophy in theory and practice, and has so much German pride that he won't let up on those people until his plant is out-producing all of the other plants."

Sue gave me a hug and kiss, "Your expansion internationally is good. I've thought about it, but I think I'd rather keep all my manufacturing at home. Others say the U.S. can't be competitive, but I'm proving them wrong. I'm selling to countries that have a cheaper labor rate, but not our quality. I suppose I should be happy where we are, but I have the itch to grow. I don't know how to yet, but..." She let it hang right there.

I told Sue, "Tiny said that he and Henry did expand you. Tiny bought a T-shirt company that is bigger than what we have in Tampa. Henry bought a knitting company that produces T-shirts. We're going to attempt to make enough race day T-shirts to have about another twenty-five percent for mail orders."

Sue looked at me with a smile, and I said, "See, you don't have to do anything and your company just gets bigger and bigger."

Sue asked, "Aren't you going to keep the T-shirt companies in S&S?"

"Think this through with me, Sue. Wouldn't it make more sense if the T-shirt business were under Quality? It would be better to have them in your blanket of management and S&S can buy from you. Your company already knows how to sell via mail order, so you can advertise on our race day trucks and in the media advertising we're putting into industry magazines. I'm sure our field people will be able to distribute flyers for you, too."

Sue was nodding in agreement, "Good idea, and good thought process too, about how to handle the T-shirt companies. I guess I can have the girls concentrate on developing that business for a while instead of trying to expand in other areas. I'll call home to tell them what you're thinking. You do an e-mail to tell Tiny how to re-assign assets."