Last year I had the good fortune of doing some consulting with B&C Specialty Products in Hopeulikit, Georgia. B&C does light manufacturing, primarily plastic molding and assembly, and they also distribute imported products produced by companies in the Far East. They have about 150 employees and are the biggest employer by far in Hopeulikit. B&C was a perfect place to learn about managing and quality. Every day presented a new lesson. Usually, the lessons were hard-learned, but those are the ones that really stick with you. B&C was gracious enough to allow me to interview their personnel about things that came up during my time there. Here is the first lesson: Always check references and backgrounds before hiring somebody. The following scenario is described by the people who actually lived it.

—J. T. Ryan, president
"I thought Henry was a pretty good guy. He came into the interview so positive and enthusiastic that I couldn’t help liking him. Besides having a good attitude, he actually seemed to know something about our kind of business. Henry had done a little work at a similar outfit in Newnan, Georgia. His work record wasn’t perfect, but we were dying for decent people, particularly in the shipping department.

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