"So I went to the Southwind plant in Quincy, MI, in 1974 and stayed there until 1980 when Fleetwood closed that plant. That was one of my bigger plants for Fleetwood and was one of my longest tenures."

After ten years with Fleetwood, he left to try the mobile home industry in Phoenix, AZ, for two years. However, he missed the RV business and went back to Fleetwood and stayed with them until 1986. That's when he went to work for Rockwood. Rockwood was eventually acquired by the now defunct Cobra Industries. Prinz was not particularly happy with the new Rockwood ownership, but he remained because they pretty much stayed out of the way. Then in 1993 he resigned at Rockwood to take the position at Barth.

He joined Barth with the intention of investing in the company. He said, "I had put together a plan with Mike Umbaugh, the previous owner of Barth, to buy the company."

The company was in deep trouble.

"I didn't realize until after I was here for two or three months how bad it was. I knew it was bad, but I felt with my connections I was strong enough and had enough background in the business that I could pull it out. Well, it was too far gone to pull out.

"So it was just a matter of hanging on until I could figure out what we could do. In the interim I had been trying to put some people together to buy it."

Eventually, Barth's financial woes overtook the company, and a secured creditor stepped in and took over the assets of the company.

"They put me in charge because they had known me for a long time," Prinz said. "Then my partner and I bought the assets from them."

Prinz's partner is Dick Miller, a local businessman who operates a chain of 40 nursing homes known as Miller's Merry Manor in central and northern Indiana .

Prinz said, "Dick and I sat down and worked out a deal where we both would invest some money in the company. He has the majority interest, however, I have a buyout plan where I would end up as owner over a period of time.

"Dick is a great partner to have. He believes I know the business, what I'm doing and where I'm going. He looks at the financial statements and says, 'Just keep showing me progress and I'll leave you alone.' And he does; he's been fantastic."

And it's no wonder. Bill Prinz has built an excellent reputation during his years in the industry. He is not only extremely personable, he is known for his integrity and loyalty. And that loyalty was returned to him by some key employees at Barth during the time between the creditor takeover and the start up under new ownership. Continued