MANDATORY.
Victoria was Briar Ridge’s vice president of operations.
Forty-six.
Sharp.
Disciplined.
Known for remembering production numbers without notes.
She had arrived three years earlier after running two plants in Michigan.
Ethan respected her.
Mostly.
Victoria did not pretend to know machines better than mechanics.
That alone put her ahead of many executives.
But she was under pressure.
Briar Ridge’s parent company, NorthStar Motion Group, had been struggling.
Margins narrowed.
Two competitors had moved assembly work to Mexico.
Steel prices fluctuated.
Insurance costs rose after a serious fire at another NorthStar facility.
Corporate leadership wanted savings.
Meridian promised them.
Ethan entered the conference room at 9:58.
Victoria sat at one end.
Chief financial officer Malcolm Reece sat beside her.
Plant manager Owen Briggs.
Corporate attorney Claire Rollins.
Safety director Ben Foster.
A Meridian representative named Richard Vale.
The contract sat in front of them.
Thick.
Bound.
Tabs along the side.
Ethan stopped.
“What’s this?”
Victoria gestured toward the chair.
“Sit.”
He did.
Richard smiled.
“Mr. Hayes.”
They had met during the pilot.
“Richard.”
Victoria opened the contract.
“We’re finalizing the Meridian Integrated Reliability Agreement.”
Ethan nodded.
“Okay.”
“We need your technical acknowledgement.”
“Why me?”
Owen answered.
“You’re the maintenance-data custodian for Lines Three through Nine.”
That was technically true.
Ethan maintained service history because the computerized maintenance system had years of bad entries before he cleaned it up.
“You’re also the lead hourly representative on the reliability committee.”
Also true.
Victoria slid a document toward him.
“Meridian needs certification that the historical production and maintenance baselines used in the agreement reflect actual plant records.”
Ethan looked at the signature block.
ETHAN HAYES
TECHNICAL DATA CUSTODIAN
BRIAR RIDGE COMPONENTS
His stomach tightened.
“What am I certifying?”
“Only that the operational data supplied to Meridian came from plant records.”
“Not the financial model?”
Malcolm answered quickly.
“No.”
“Not contract terms?”
“No.”
“Not projected savings?”
“No.”
Ethan turned pages.
Richard leaned forward.
“This partnership protects the plant.”
“How?”
“Guaranteed coverage.”
“Emergency service.”
“Sensor support.”
“Predictive failure detection.”
“Parts logistics.”
“You’ve seen the pilot.”
“I have.”
“It worked.”
“It was useful.”
Richard smiled.
“Then this should be straightforward.”
Ethan continued reading.
Section One.
Definitions.
Section Two.
Service scope.
Section Three.
Covered equipment.
Section Four.
Performance guarantee.
Then Section Five.
EXCLUSIVE NETWORK RIGHTS AND QUALIFIED PRODUCTION ADJUSTMENT.
Ethan slowed.
Richard noticed.
“Section Five guarantees Briar Ridge exclusive regional response coverage.”
Ethan said nothing.
Richard continued.
“That means Meridian cannot allocate critical response resources to a competing facility inside the defined territory if doing so jeopardizes your service level.”
Victoria said:
“It’s one of the strongest protections in the contract.”
Ethan read.
MERIDIAN SHALL RECEIVE A QUALIFIED PRODUCTION ADJUSTMENT OF $0.04 FOR EACH COVERED CYCLE PROCESSED THROUGH MONITORED EQUIPMENT DURING THE TERM.
He stopped.
Four cents.
Same number.
He looked toward Malcolm.
“Why four cents?”
Everyone became quiet.
Malcolm looked confused.
“What?”