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This Document Copyright 1999 © by
John F. Uske (All Rights Reserved)

<John Uske with Planer Mill>

LEGO
Microsoft Store

My exit from the Packaging Industry

For almost 10 years I worked in the contract packging industry. The work was very much fun and interesting, but the work environment was very volatile and unstable. Today product life cycles are shorter than ever, and going to work every day in the packaging business was like a fight for survival. Whether or not you had a job depended very much on how well the product you packaged was doing in the market. Large firms with a diversified product portfolio have a greater chance of survival because they can spread out their risks, but because the past LBO and M&A activity on Wall Street in the 1980s lead to these firms being bought out and carved up into pieces that were sold off by their acquirers to get the profits, such firms are far and few in between anymore. Today most big food brands do not own their manufacturing infrastucture, instead they outsource the work to independent packagers, which is where I was, and I had enough.

Fortunately my education and experience background is extremely broad and diversified and so I was able to switch industries with no problem, but again the common thread, that gets me into all these places, is knowledge of electricity, electronics, software, mechanics, and business processes. I am very happy where I am now, and some day I may write about it, but for now I just want to wind down and keep a low profile as I become familiar with my new employer. The company is one of the largest of its type in the world today, and I feel enamored that they chose me to join their team. Stay tuned. It gets better!