Loberg Day: A Letter to Tom

Dear Tom,

We are approaching another Loberg Day, a special day for all of us to celebrate your legacy. You wouldn’t want us to make a big deal of you, but your dedication and passion for making conveyors, working with integration partners, caring for our fellow Hytrol family members, and supporting the community deserve recognition. We continue to shine the light on you and what Hytrol has accomplished because of your vision; it is important to share your legacy with those who never got the opportunity to meet you. It is one way that we get to pass the baton to the next generation of Hytrol family members.

Who knew that something as small as your work with Lester Jarlsberg could turn into the driving engine behind the most sought-after network of industry experts in the material handling world? We know it wasn’t that simple to get those sacks of feed to the loft in that original building, but that application was the catalyst for our go-to-market strategy that we still live by today. Some of your most impactful work was the way you structured the company to thrive after you left us. Here is an update on how great you and your team did!

In a lot of ways, we are the same company you started. We still have the annual Christmas party, we still have integration partner conventions, and we still produce TA conveyors. On the other hand, we are very different. We have multiple locations, we have hybrid work environments, and we have a company app called Hytrol GO that allows us to seamlessly communicate with all employees and celebrate their milestones and birthdays. All of that great work is being done by employees you got to meet and some that you didn’t.

You would be beaming with pride at your Hytrol family. We have the most amazing people that work here, with 54 who have celebrated 40 years in the business. Jerry Beshiers, specifically, dedicated over 50 years of his life to making Hytrol a better place. You knew Jerry, but we also want to tell you about a few people we wish you would’ve gotten the chance to meet. Paige Phillips is leading the marketing team, that truly sets the standard for advertising and promotion in our industry, and they win awards every year with their work. A year ago, we hired Chris Brudos to lead our supply chain team, and he has already made a substantial positive impact in our operations with his efforts. Empathy is a core value that you demonstrated daily when you were here, and Deshanta Beale is one of our HR leaders that shines this light into the organization through her work in employee relations. Our Hytrol family members have developed industry leading technologies, expanded our facilities, grown our integration partner network, held true to our values, and even added A/C to the production floor! (Cool, huh?!)

One of the things we are proud of is that we are still family-owned—the whole Loberg family has supported us through every major decision. Something you would be especially proud to know is that two of your grandchildren are working in the business and making big impacts. Phillip Poston is our Chief Development Officer and works hard to carry on your legacy in the work that he does, making sure every person at Hytrol has a path to achieve their goals. Kirk Loberg started with us last year and took over our aviation department—a passion that we know you shared. We are proud of the opportunity to work with both of them.

You would be so excited to see the growth and new developments in place today. One of the biggest changes is our newest facility in Fort Smith, Arkansas. We made sure that everything we did was in line with your vision. We connected with as many civic leaders and community members as possible and let them know Hytrol was here to make a positive impact. We worked hard to find the right people to join the Hytrol family and grow with us. One of those people is our manufacturing engineer, Logan Long, who led the implementation of Fort Smith’s 500+ foot long pallet handling conveyor. It’s great to see them using our products to transform the way we move fabricated parts to the automated paint system, eliminating forklift traffic in those areas. Will Mangrum took over the operations in Fort Smith from Phillip, and his team’s success has provided the opportunity for the Jonesboro operations to expand the capacity of our standard products for our customers. The growth in the past few years hasn’t been easy, but our team has made Hytrol better despite the challenges with supply chain and COVID-19 (you don’t want to know about these two issues!).

We would love to be able to give you a tour of the business today. We know you would smile; we would expect you to ask a lot of questions to learn more; and we hope that you would leave the facilities proud of our efforts. We miss you, but we are committed to sharing your values and legacy every day. Thank you for all of the good memories and for creating such an amazing place to work. They say that a person is never really gone until they’re thought of for the last time. There are a lot of people who keep you here with us.

Signed,

Your Hytrol Family