Others Discover a Layoff Leads to Opportunity

Linda Hoeppner, 36, followed in her father’s footsteps, going to work at the Eckrich plant right out of high school in 1973. In 13 years, she did it all: skinning hot dogs, making bratwurst and sheep casings, bagging spices. But the place closed for good soon after the workers agreed to take $2 an hour wage cuts to $9.25.

Her wages had helped put her husband, Michael, through Purdue, which he attended part time for years while selling steel or real estate. The loss of her job jolted them into action: She used federal job-training funds to attend business school, he drew on his engineering degree and plastics experience, and they pried some loans out of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The result: Hoosier Pride Plastics Inc. in Huntertown, just north of Ft. Wayne, a 10,000-square-foot injection molding manufacturing plant that is in the throes of starting up production of plastic components for a Cleveland spa maker, the Hoeppners’ first customer.

As they did at the plant closing, the Hoeppners view the recession as an opportunity, confident that their products will leapfrog the competition.

“If they hadn’t closed, I probably would have stayed at Eckrich the rest of my life,” says Hoeppner. “We were in the comfort zone there. That’s the positive thing about displacement. It makes you look at your future.”