SPRINGFIELD - On Jan. 18, 1994, local and state officials reveled in Springfield's good fortune as Sony announced it would build a $50 million, 300-employee factory here.
"It really feels a little like Christmas today," gushed then-Gov. Barbara Roberts.
In the months that followed, local officials speculated that Sony might eventually expand the factory to a 1,000-employee campus. The possibilities seemed endless.
Fast-forward nine years: Sony, awash in financial problems, abruptly shuts the plant, transfers its remaining work to other U.S. factories and lays off all 277 Lane County workers.
How could things have gone so wrong?