Hytrol's founder dies

By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 12/1/2004

Tom Loberg, founder, owner and CEO of conveyor supplier Hytrol, died November 8 following a difficult recovery from heart surgery. He was 87 years old.

In 1935, Loberg went to work for Allen Bradley before becoming the first apprentice hired by then start-up Allis-Chalmers. While still there, Loberg and a friend started a machine shop business, but conveyors were not obviously in his future.

Soon after Loberg left Allis-Chalmers, his company, Hydro-Controls, moved into full swing in 1947. Loberg, at the request of a friend, later designed and built his first conveyor to handle bags of seed and feed. That expanded into a line of seed and feed conveyors that became the company's primary business, and the name changed to Hytrol Conveyor Co.

The company moved to Jonesboro, Ark. in 1962 with 26 employees into a 27,000 square foot facility. Today, the company employs nearly 700 people and works out of a 500,000 square foot facility where it produces a broad range of conveyors for industry.