The Stories Project: Oregon Livelihoods Traded Away

Benjamin Joy Residence: Portland, OR Occupation: former employee of InFocus [ Hear Benjamin Joy's story ]

Snapshots "When I first started with InFocus the manufacturing and R&D were all under the roof out in Wilsonville, the first part that went away was manufacturing. " "Lets say we are talking about a $30 cost here and a $5 cost overseas, there were other costs associated with that move that people weren't talking about. This was a new ground, unknown territory. " "My job was not directly eliminated because of the manufacturing outsourcing because I worked with the development teams; later on a decision was made to outsource the engineering, research and development. I think the decision to outsourcing the manufacturing probably kept the company competitive in the changing landscape that was coming to be. But taking the engineering component over seas is probably the death of company, to sound dramatic. " "There is a human element that's missing. What drove InFocus was that so many workers had ownership and put passion into it; we wanted that company to succeed. Even our spouses didn't understand. You would put so much into your job, doing anything necessary to make it succeed. I just think that overseas companies won't ever value me as a worker in that way -- and we don't value overseas workers in that way. It's never the same. That element of working for a local company, one that wants to be world class, that where I want to be. "

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