After Months Out of Work, Julie Stone Is Rehired as a Quality Manager When a New Manufacturer Reopens Her Hot Springs Plant

SECOND SHIFT · FROM THE FIELD

Hot Springs, North Carolina · Manufacturing · Rehired after a plant closure

Original reporting: Rian Stockett, WLOS News 13 · October 1, 2026

When Peerless Blowers shut down its plant in Hot Springs, North Carolina, two years ago, Julie Stone lost her job as a quality assurance manager. She went months without work, WLOS’s Rian Stockett reports.

Now Stone is back in the same building, in the same role. Advanced BioGas Systems, which makes gas processing equipment for biogas systems and other uses, has opened in the former Peerless Blowers facility and hired her as its quality assurance manager, according to the report. The station says the new owner has given jobs back to several former employees.

“I feel very blessed. This is my hometown. This is where I grew up,” Stone told WLOS. She said local job opportunities are limited, and she was optimistic about future growth and more opportunities for local residents, the station reports.

According to Madison County Manager Rod Honeycutt, Advanced BioGas created 20 positions with an average annual salary of $56,000, and 17 were filled locally, WLOS reports. The company invested $2 million in renovations and received a $100,000 state economic incentive, with the county adding $5,000. “There’s 70-plus years of manufacturing experience here in this small town,” Director of Manufacturing Eric Stuehrenberg told the station.

This is a building-reuse deal in which the workforce came with the building. A shuttered plant left behind trained people like Stone, and the new operator filled most of its 20 jobs locally, as reported. For small mountain towns, a modest incentive that brings back a laid-off skilled workforce can be worth more than its dollar size suggests. That is our analysis; the facts are as reported by WLOS.

Read the original reporting at WLOS →

Second Shift tells the stories of people building what’s next through new skills, new careers and second chances. From the Field items are curated from credited reporting, with Location Decision’s perspective. Location Decision Originals are independently reported by our team.

Curated by Location Decision. Originally reported by Rian Stockett, WLOS News 13, October 1, 2026.

This item was sourced and drafted with AI assistance and reviewed under Location Decision’s editorial standards. Second Shift tracks workforce outcomes to inform our broader editorial analysis. All reporting belongs to the credited journalists; read the original story for the full account.