The Hytrol Story

“Many times I would come down to the plant at night...when the plant was small... I couldn’t sleep...I knew where the one switch was that turned on all the lights in the shop. And I’d walk around the plant...then go back home and go to sleep, then get up at seven o’clock and come back.” “The first time I realized that Hytrol was as big as it was--when we went to a show at McCormick Place in Chicago and I walked up and down talking to some of the guys (exhibitors). They’d look at my name badge and say, “Tom Loberg! Oh! Oh! Let me talk to you!’ and I thought, what’s this all about?” ON SAM AND RALPH: “One thing I learned from Sam early on was-- we had a secretary and she would do letters and erase the mistakes. Sam wanted them done over again because he didn’t want any eraser marks on the letters. Sam would really upset the girl, but he said, “We may not be the BIGGEST company, but we can be the BEST company, and that was right down to the letters we write.’ I never forgot that, Even though I thought Sam was hard on the girls...but that’s one of the ways we went to market. We went really first class---- it LOOKED first class.” “I trusted Sam, and he trusted and respected what I did.” “Ralph and I had the same feeling. Once we shipped something to a customer we promised it would work. If it didn’t work, we would go and make it work, because we had the ability to make it work. And Ralph went with me to a couple of jobs and I said, “You can’t do it.’ and he said, “We can do it!’” “When Ralph retired, he didn’t want to come back (to the plant). He would only come back once or twice a year is all...although he went to the annual meetings and stuff like that...but he wanted to leave the shop with the guys who worked for him on their own and were working for the guy who replaced him. He was really fussy about that.” “I felt closer to Sam and Ralph than anyone. They believed in me and there was no mis-trust.” ON HIS EMPLOYEES: “Don’t get on the outs with our employees---they are our partners in this game!” “I think we have the best people in the world!” “My employees trust me. I think I won their trust by never letting them down---never betraying them--- be on their side all the time.”