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She opened her mouth to speak, to refute, to…anything. No words came out.
“The fact of the matter is,” he continued, the warm timbre of his voice intensifying the thrumming between her legs, “when we were at one hundred percent functionality and staffing, the output never exceeded the roughly forty-two percent. That means our manufacturing efforts have never run at full capability. Therefore, it’s no wonder we’re suffering under this new paradigm of amplified sales.”
“Excuse me,” Jack Holden, VP of Production, interjected.
Maxi saw Donovan steal a glance at the nameplate before he graciously said, “Mr. Holden, so nice to meet you. Please do not think I’m picking on the Production department. I’m merely providing the facts. All of the supporting documentation for my findings are contained within your booklets, including appropriate resource attributions and data sources.”
Not exactly placated, Jack said in a prickly tone, “We’ve never failed to meet production deadlines and have never disrupted flow for Facilities, Shipping, or Distribution.”
“Yes, I’ve learned that as well,” Dr. Donovan said, seeming to retain his cool despite the fact that Jack still visibly bristled. “But that’s because sales were such that they fell within that forty-two percent of production—there was never a need to speed up manufacturing and assembly, because there wasn’t additional demand beyond that base level. However, with the phenomenal success of the new ad campaign that is not only sweeping the Internet, appearing in magazines, and on TV—also being showcased on billboards and permeating the global market—the numbers game is wreaking havoc on all Staci Kay operations.”
Jack crossed his arms over his chest and fumed.
Einstein shot a look Maxi’s way. “May I continue?”
“By all means,” she drolly encouraged. He’d either end up being the most hated man in the building or the most revered. The pendulum could swing either way; Maxi burned with curiosity as to the outcome.
The genius was living on the edge with this group. Everyone in the room was under fire, and all it took was a quick glance around the conference table to see that they wanted to shoot daggers Einstein’s way if he singled out their functional area as a weak link.
But she couldn’t deny that he had a valid point with supply and demand—it was precisely the issue she’d pegged earlier.
Ryan changed slides and said, “At the moment, the spike in sales sh
ould be manageable. In less than two weeks, certainly not. Reason being, we had plenty of back-stock to supplement our stores, third-party vendor orders, and online sales. However, that excess is rapidly depleting. There will be a huge lull in distributing our product in precisely two hundred and sixty-seven hours and twenty-seven seconds—in broad strokes, eleven days from right now—if we don’t implement strategic improvements immediately.”
Maxi heard the restless shifting of chairs and felt the agitation of the executives.
She noted that several VPs appeared wholly uncomfortable, as though they’d just been ripped new ones. Others were suddenly as captivated as Maxi. Though she was pretty certain that only her skin tingled.
Well, perhaps Avril’s did as well, because Maxi’s assistant was blatantly riveted, having slid into Maxi’s chair and glued her gaze on their new director.
“What do you suggest?” Maxi prompted, playing along to see if Einstein would let out enough rope to hang himself with this crowd, or win them over. A risky game, for sure, but he fascinated her.
So much so, she stepped closer to him. Stared up at him imploringly.
Could he really be their salvation?
Dr. Donovan reached for the knot of his silver silk tie with thin navy pinstripes, as though instantly hot under the collar.
Interesting.
Had she done that to him?
Because apparently, the pressure he was under to prove himself credible didn’t quite register. He remained self-assured and steel-shouldered.
Yet he had to drag his gaze from her. Clear his throat.
This intrigued her further.
Einstein flipped through more slides as he said, “It’s imperative that our staff reach peak capability. Think of it this way. When we’re staffed at one hundred percent but are only producing at forty-two percent, that offers the potential to improve by fifty-eight percent without employees even going above and beyond the call of duty. They’re still working their normal eight-hour shifts, just at a more accelerated pace to match industry standard—to match our competitors’ pace. That will push out our time frame for full-blown crisis to twenty-three days, which should provide sufficient time to hire more workers and pump up our shipping efforts.”
He gave Maxi a voila! look, evidently having thoroughly composed himself. Then he continued, now addressing his wider audience. “Of course, we’ll have to incrementally improve upon that workforce capacity. But as long as we’re operating at full steam, we shouldn’t slip behind and will eventually come out ahead of the curve, especially if we incentivize staff to stay on board, and encourage those who did walk out to come back, since they’re already trained and can step right into production mode.”
Once again, he looked damn pleased with himself.
Maxi watched in awe as he backed up his conjecture with more charts and algebraic equations that pretty much blew her mind. However, she tried to appear as though she was following along, and that all those crazy numbers and symbols somehow gelled in her head.
Not a fucking chance.
