Keith Hopson's career began the day he got his pink slip. He was running the four-employee in-plant for Hydrotex at the time. The company’s new president, a former executive at Mary Kay, implemented some changes that resulted in a handful of layoffs. Hopson was one of the casualties. Rather than retreat into despair, though, he took some initiative.
Keith Hopson
A sudden workload increase came when cosmetics company Mary Kay Inc. shifted the printing and folding of product inserts from outside printing suppliers to the company's in-plant facility in Carrollton, Texas. "It hit us like a ton of bricks" recalls Keith Hopson. "We didn't know it was coming until we were flooded with work."
When cosmetics giant Mary Kay Inc. departed from the trend of producing products overseas, Keith Hopson, supervisor of Mary Kay Printing Services, in Carrollton, Texas, had to move fast. The company’s decision to make its products in the U.S. included the printing and finishing of leaflets and inserts. “Our world kind of got turned upside-down in August of 2007,” Hopson recalls. “We struggled for about four months trying to keep up with the orders.”