Forty Two

Arriving at Johnson, she grabbed her hardhat and followed Brad to the reception area. A secretary soon appeared to take Brad to his appointment and a few minutes later a man appeared to greet Kim. He introduced himself as Sam Baxter, the plant manager, and led the way back to the plant floor.

As soon as they reached the floor, Kim was glad she was wearing what she was. It was already hot and, since it was still early in the day, it was going to get hotter. If the production area was air-conditioned it wasn’t having much effect.

Sam took her to an AT machine and introduced her to its operator, Mary. Kim noted privately the fact that at Johnson, like so many other companies these days, people didn’t seem to have last names. Baxter introduced Kim as the technical expert from AT, and Kim found herself greeted with a frown.

The machine was a small stamping press. Mary took a small sheet of steel from a stack, carefully positioned it in the press, then activated it. After the machine cycled