CHICAGO (June 22, 9:40 a.m. EDT) — With more than 40 years of experience in plastics and manufacturing, Hoop Roche said he's always looking for ways to exchange ideas.
Now, the chairman and chief executive officer of injection molder Erie Plastics Inc. in Corry, Pa., is trying his hand at blogging. He can be found on the Internet at www.hoopsblog.typepad.com.
“I just thought it would be fun and a little quirky,” Roche said, noting that it is just another method of communication.
He said he has always been an avid writer, and he plans to share his views on plastics, manufacturing and, at times, life in general.
So far, he has written about his skiing accident, the maturation process, China, and about the difficulty of shuttering a facility.
Most recently, he has written about being a grandfather and has shared thoughts on NPE.
Roche said he has gained his blogging experience by looking at blogs on such varied topics as Notre Dame and Corvettes, and he is amazed at how many different blogs there are. That's why he is now online as well.
Roche said the hard part was in setting up the blog — it took a couple months. But now that he's up and running, he has received some favorable feedback, and the number of reader visits is already in the hundreds.
He said he is used to writing a note each week to put in his workers' weekly paychecks because he does not get to see all the employees, since the company is on a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week schedule. The blog just extends his message a little further.
Erie Plastics expects to post sales of more than $100 million for 2006. It has 450 employees, with facilities in Corry and in Szekesfehervar, Hungary.