Restructuring

[Audren Sykes]

"I want a speeder."

Audren glanced up from his computer screens to see his cousin, Korynn Nartano, just settling into the chair on the other side of the desk. He'd left the door to his office open but hadn't actually expected anyone to stop by. He hadn't heard her arrive either, which meant she was getting sneakier or he had been too absorbed in his work. Maybe both.

"So buy one, your salary certainly provides enough to do so."

While Korynn was technically on the books as a Director for Ceredir Industries, she was effectively becoming his right hand with both Ceredir and TransGalMeg. As a Jedi Master, even one who wasn't training anyone else, his schedule could be unpredictable. That tended to not go well with clients or even internal meetings. When a company was just more than a company of one, there needed to be some basic structure. Korynn had the business training that he didn't - though he was picking things up fairly well - and she was no Force-user. Eventually they'd need to shift her position to include authority with TGM. It wasn't a pressing matter yet.

His thoughts were interrupted by her retort.

"What, you expect me to buy my own?"

While the tone of incredulity was there, her emotions reflected amusement and actual intent. The question had been a joke, but the conversation was more than just small talk. She had something in mind. With a sigh, the Jedi blanked his screens and turned his attention fully to her.

"You have something in mind."

It was a statement, not a question. In response, she gave a quick grin.

"It's no fun when you cheat. Yes, I do. I want a speeder."

"I get that much. Give me the exploded version, because I'm not seeing your point."

Another grin. She was in a good mood today.

"TransGalMeg should manufacture atmospheric vehicles. There's a host of different options: tanks, transports, civilian speeders, sports. The market is there."

"We can't just throw a new line of manufacturing out there. It takes time, resources. Neither of which we currently have in abundance."

From a hip pocket the younger woman drew out a datapad and tossed a projection into the air. The glowing text hovered over the desk at an angle that both could easily read. It took a moment for him to determine exactly what the numbers referred to, but that was to be expected. This explanation was more in-depth than what he typically saw, and there were several different sets of numbers that he reviewed frequently. This was the specifics of the parts portion of TGM's business.

"You could nix the parts line, shift it over to a vehicular line."

"Last I heard, we were still breaking even on the parts."

She brought another two projections up and arranged them horizontally. On the left was the original projection. In the middle was a basic line graph with a slow but steady generally negative slope in red. At the moment it was barely holding steady over the straight horizontal line indicating the cost to the company to build the parts. A green line took over from the red, momentarily dipping under the cost line, then shifting to a positive slope. On the right were figures relating to vehicular manufacturing.

"Generally not making as much as possible. Preferably, the company should be pushing a profit, not simply breaking even. It's a for-profit organization."

She had a point. They would eventually need to shut that line down or alter it so it started producing revenue. While he would have preferred to keep it running and expand it, they didn't currently have the expertise on-hand to expand. The money and equipment could be put to better use if they shelved the division for now.

"Put together a project team then. Let's take a look at this from all angles to make an informed decision."

Korynn nodded and stood. From her mental state, he guessed she had several people in mind already and had just been waiting for his go-ahead.

 

[Audren Sykes]

Much as he expected, Audren received an invitation to the meeting about the matter. There were several others invited: financial analysts, materials experts, transport and supply, and more. It wasn't a tremendously huge meeting, but it was significant enough. Either she was seriously going to cover all angles or she was planning on jumping ahead, this amount could indicate either focus. He'd be attending.

The next day found Audren walking into the meeting less than a minute before it was to start. It was in a conference room - the largest one in the facility, granted - rather than an auditorium; despite being a large meeting it was not that large. He did not take the seat at the head of the table for the simple fact that this was not his meeting to run. He was here to listen and to toss his opinion in the ring if he felt it needed.

Korynn called the meeting to order without ado. She explained the basics of the project: examine and implement the change from ship systems to atmospheric vessels. Simple enough to say, somewhat more difficult to achieve in practice. Before diving into the details however, she asked the Jedi if he had anything to add.

"Just that we're at stage one of this project, determining feasability. If it isn't realistic, the team has done their job and the project shuts down. If it is, the team has done their job and we move forward to planning then implementation stages. We're looking at the facts here, we don't want to bend them to meet a particular goal."

He could sense his cousin's mental stiffness at his comment. Specifically about the team having done their job and the project shutting down if this wasn't a realistic goal. The follow-up mollified her somewhat though. He didn't think she would actively force the information to meet her goals, but there was always the possibility that she would subconciously do so. The rest of the meeting went off without a hitch. The representative from each department would filter data and determine what it was costing to run the division versus what it was making, how much it would cost to convert from one subject to the other, then how much it would cost versus profit projections for the vehicles. The final report would be put together by the finance team and presented at the next meeting in two weeks.

 

[Audren Sykes]

Two weeks came and went. This meeting was initially scheduled at a point when Audren was away from the office, and while this would normally not be an issue thanks to the holonet, he wanted to be present. It was simpler to sense things that people wanted to hide that way.

Since he'd switched around his schedule, the day of the meeting was essentially a day off for the Sephi. He could sense the surprise of others as he showed up in unmistakably casual clothing. It was business appropriate, but far less so than anyone else in the meeting. They couldn't say anything though...he was the owner. Once again he did not take the chair at the head of the table, but chose an unoccupied one at random.

The meeting proceeded more or less as he'd expected. One of the more senior finance specialists had put together a presentation, incorporating information from each of the focus areas. It was clearly built to be presented to a board or group of people larger than this meeting, as the Bith began the presentation with a concise recap of the objective and areas they were examining. Each of the specialists was briefly introduced by name and focus area, but each was allowed to present their own findings. Costs of shelving and re-purposing the existing division, equipment, and personnel were presented. After that costs of implementing the new option were shown, then a comparison between the two to indicate what costs would be alleviated with the re-purposing. From there they showed projected income charts based on differing variables, and finally the primary finance employee tied it all together. In a nutshell, while there would initially be a hit in terms of money, overall it would net positive.

Audren stayed quiet for the duration of the presentation. He only spoke up once the floor was opened to questions and a couple had already been presented and answered. It was only polite.

"This question is for Miss Mishkoll. When you spoke on projected income flow if the division and products are implemented, you neglected to mention something. I'd like to hear it."

Many of the others in the room glanced at each other, and a flurry of emotions could be felt through the Force. Curiosity at what had not been stated, trepidation that he knew something they didn't. Incredulity that he would somehow know about the omission was there, as was some offense at the way he'd phrased the statement. And as well, a hint of fear from Mishkoll and the quiet resignation of someone in the room. That resignation he couldn't quite pin down to a person. The woman, Ziare, glanced at the Bith leading the meeting and received a slight nod before she turned to face Audren and the others.

"The numbers we used are derived from current market standards. What was not mentioned was that most companies currently producing vehicles on both the civilian and military markets do so under contract with governments or other organizations. They have a starting point already."

"What about firms that just sell civilian?"

"The numbers vary wildly. Most of those tend to either be very small or very large, or sometimes the small ones are a subsidiary of larger companies. Given TGM's current production lines, it was assumed that we would produce both military and civilian."

"And how would the numbers look if we ran under our normal advertising and offering style, without operating under pre-existing contracts?"

At that question, the Bith tapped some buttons and brought up another projection, which Ziare gestured at with a hand as she answered.

"The initial estimates are lower and growth is slower. As you can see, the general slope is shallower."

"So operating under this assumption, what does the final comparison look like?"

Ziare didn't have that answer, but she looked at the Bith with some expectancy. Her look was ignored, as the craniopod was already typing information into his console. The projected image shifted once again, showing the final profit/cost graph on the left and a revised one on the right. The revised graph shifted as more data was entered, until finally the typing stopped and the image stabilized. The influence was obvious: it would take longer to recover from the shift and start profiting off of it. However, the slope was still unmistakably positive.

"Thank you for your time and effort everyone. Mister Dolros, would you please forward the presentation and data to me directly? We will inform the team on the decision soon. Korynn, would you stop by my office in a few minutes?"

 

[Audren Sykes]

Audren headed straight back for his office, and was met there moments after by Korynn. Her physical presence was pure business, but he could sense some trepidation behind the facade. She thought he was going to shut the whole thing down. By the time she'd sat, he had the same presentation that had been used pulled up and was rapidly flipping to the last graphic. Dolros had been smart and understood what Audren wanted: both the initial and revised profit projections were on the page.

"So. You know this sort of thing better than I do. If you were going to sell this to a board of directors, could you do it?"

She wanted to answer affirmatively. Without thought, without consideration...for whatever reason, this was fast becoming a pet project for her. However, the woman reigned herself in and seriously examined the numbers before answering.

"The first one, yes. Without question. The revised one...it would take some doing, especially if they were side by side. I'd probably tailor my arguments to the board members, maybe even discuss it with them ahead of time. Probably even extend the time to see how much it increases."

The Jedi nodded; he'd been thinking in much the same direction. It was fortunate then that they didn't have a board of directors and that he was the sole owner of the company. The decision was entirely in his hands. That could also be a bad thing, but such was why he had learned and responsible people on payroll. He'd needed to learn how to delegate.

"Well, the data is clear. It's not as good as I would like, but it's there. Go ahead and put together a plan for the switch."

Her excitement was almost palpable. Odd how invested and excited she was about a work project.

"However. I want you to work with the teams to try and massage the timeline. Keep the negatives as short a time as possible. If it can't be done then it can't be done, but I want you to try. If I get any new data for you I'll schedule a meeting with you and Dolros."

Korynn nodded, clearly trying to suppress the indicators. Nobody but her knew why she bothered, she knew he was a Jedi and could sense the emotions. He was tempted to tell her to calm down or the chair would fall apart from the bouncing. It probably would not be taken well however; when she thought back over the conversation she might decide to take offense at implied insult, and wouldn't that be fun. Once his last statement sank in though, the more analytical portion of her mind began re-asserting control.

"You have prospects lined up? A contract? The SJO?"

The Master shook his head in the negative. The Silver Jedi had plenty of hardware and contracted companies. He'd had a contract with them for Ceredir a long way back, but both sides had let it lapse...the change in leadership didn't seem to be interested. He didn't hide his involvement from his allies, but neither did he advertise it. He considered doing such borderline gauche. No, he knew of others who were aware of his ownership and had been trying to get some changes in place, changes he might be able to help with.

"No. If the SJO wants some of our equipment they can approach the company. I won't obligate them to do anything based on my position. No, this is for others who have been slowly moving their territories forward to meet current technology. Just passing comments, but if I let them know what direction TGM is heading they may take advantage of the opportunity. Like I said though, I'll let you know. I want the profit projections kept current, and any test ones that you and Dolros come up with should be kept for comparison, not overwritten or deleted.

Now hop to it. Let's make you a speeder."

She was out of her chair and out the door as quickly as she could move, almost knocking the chair backwards in her haste. Meanwhile, Audren composed a quick status update to send to the general team. When that was done he was out the door too...no more work for his day off.