"Out of work, seeking new land of opportunity"
"He's a veteran toolmaker and the former leader of a staff of 60 engineers. He knows lean manufacturing, total quality management and other methods of producing things efficiently and well.
All in all, he has unusually rich manufacturing credentials that reach from shop floor to conceptual design.
And he can't find a job - here.
So he's going to try his luck halfway around the world, in a country that, as the United States once was, is driven by the idea of actually making things.
"Two years ago, if someone would have said this is happening . . . I would have laughed at them," he said. "I would have said, 'I would never go to China in a million years.' "
""I sent so many resumes out it got to be a joke," he said. "Three, four, five a day - as many as I could emotionally do."
"And that's just what he's doing. He and his family are visiting China now on what Lee calls an exploratory trip.
The idea that he might end up working in China is still just that - an idea. Lee isn't sure he would actually do it. Besides continuing to hunt for jobs here, he may have the opportunity to work on a manufacturing project in Europe."
"But the fact that someone with his background and expertise is even considering China while it seems all but impossible to land work here suggests to him the degree to which fundamental change is afoot.
"I am looking at China as the land of opportunity," he said. "Absolutely right. It is where I can provide my expertise. I think people would listen.""