Sixty Nine

“No we’re not at all. We’re barely holding to our budget,” Campbell insisted. “Why ... Just look at our raw materials cost! It’s out of sight! I can’t tell you how many ways we’ve had to cut back to cover that added cost.”

“Oh!” Brad said scathingly, “so we’re over on our raw materials budget. How’s the revenue side look? Are we making budget there?”

“Well, that’s worrisome, too,” Campbell said. “Our order backlog is looking good, but our sales aren’t keeping pace...”

“What’s that mean?” Kim asked.

“Well, we only book a sale when the order ships. How can we be sure we’ll even be paid when it does?”

Brad was utterly furious. “I happen to know that at least two-thirds of those orders are either prepaid or have an irrevocable letter of credit with them. Now please tell me where the risk is on those?”

Before Campbell could address that question, Harrison asked, “Why was my order for new tooling canceled?”

“For two reasons, sir,” Campbell replied. “First, as I told you, we don’t have the m