In Remembrance: Tom Loberg
Hytrol Conveyor Founder a Giant in the Material Handling Industry
Thomas Henry Loberg, the founder of Hytrol Conveyor Company in Jonesboro, Arkansas, passed away last week following a difficult recovery from heart surgery. He was 87.
This is a loss for the entire material handling industry in general, and felt deeply at Cisco-Eagle.
Tom grew up in Milwaukee and West Allis, Wisconsin. He graduated from Marquette University in 1935, and worked briefly for electronics parts manufacturer Allen Bradley. Later, he became the first apprentice to be hired by Allis-Chalmers after the end of the depression. While working at Allis-Chalmers, Tom and a friend started their own machine shop business. Tom later left Allis-Chalmers to pursue his interest in that business.
It was during this time that a friend asked Tom to build a conveyor to handle bags of seed and feed. Tom was reluctant at first but eventually agreed and built his first conveyor. Soon, others wanted one of Tom's conveyors and he began manufacturing a small line of feed and seed handling conveyors.
The company experienced steady growth due in large part to Tom's insistence at selling only through distributors, an insistence the company continues to hold. In a 1997 interview marking Hytrol's 50th Anniversary, Tom expressed his approach to doing business this way: "We're in the business of manufacturing conveyors. Our distributors are in the business of selling them. By working extremely close with our distributors, we form a unique three-way partnership between our company, our distributors, and our customers. That's been Hytrol's philosophy since 1947, and it has never wavered."
Cisco-Eagle has distributed Hytrol Conveyors for over three decades. We are direct beneficiaries of Tom Loberg’s vision. We’d like to extend our deepest sympathies to the Loberg family.
