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FIELD OF DREAMS

Born of vision (rather than a voice), RL Hudson’s new home is now reality.

by Jim Morgan

Rick Hudson empathizes with Kevin Costner.

Or, to be more precise, with Ray Kinsella, the Iowa farmer Costner portrayed in the 1989 film Field of Dreams. Compelled by the mysterious words “If you build it, he will come” to plow under one of his cornfields and construct a baseball diamond, Kinsella’s plan is met with both support and skepticism.

As the founder and CEO of RL Hudson, and the person ultimately responsible for managing the completion of the company’s new 36,000-square-foot corporate headquarters, Rick knows what that kind of mixed reaction is like.

“For as long as we’ve been talking about a new building,” Rick recalls, “some people have wondered why we need to go through all the trouble and expense that construction naturally entails. But the fact is, this new building has never been about me listening to a ‘voice’; it’s always been about RL Hudson listening to its customers. It’s about taking this company to the next level and equipping us to meet the ever-increasing needs of the people we serve.”

GROWING PAINS One person who shared Rick’s vision for a new building from the very beginning is President Roger Stair. Having been with RL Hudson since 1988, Roger has seen tremendous growth in the number of employees and significant changes in the services offered by the company.

“As engineering and quality assurance have become integral parts of what we provide,” Roger explains, “we’ve found ourselves constantly bumping up against space limitations. Our engineering staff has more than doubled in just the past year, and our quality staff has gone from four persons to seven.”
In some cases, three people were occupying an office originally intended for one. Happy as he was to see the company expanding, Rick knew something had to be done to alleviate overcrowding and to facilitate continued growth.

“Having the business to justify those staff expansions is a great problem to have,” he concedes, “but at a certain point you hit critical mass. You have to either expand the existing facility or build something new. In our case, altering our current home would have been, at best, a temporary solution, so we focused our energies and resources on a new facility.”

BREAKING NEW GROUND With the company having purchased a seven-acre tract of land in Broken Arrow (a bustling suburb of 85,000 southeast of Tulsa), Roger’s planning of the new facility began in earnest in mid-2002. As with any building project, there were thousands of decisions to make, but Roger found just the right people to help.

“Jim Freeman of CBCI was hired as the contractor to oversee the construction,” he says, “and Barry Belt of Belt Architects was the architect. They’ve both been absolutely terrific. I’ve probably called them with questions about a million times each, but they still keep taking my calls!”

With the team assembled, ground was officially broken in a noontime ceremony on February 10, 2003. Both the mayor of Broken Arrow and the president of the Broken Arrow Chamber of Commerce contributed congratulatory comments, and all of RL Hudson’s Tulsa-based employees were there to bear witness and to toast the company’s future. It was a memorable event for everyone present, but it was especially meaningful for Rick.

“I’d be fibbing if I said that the groundbreaking wasn’t a very emotional day,” he admits. “To stand in the middle of that field, and to know that all the hard work that has gone into the company since 1980 had brought us to that point. In that sense, I guess it really is a field of dreams.”

BUILT-IN EFFICIENCIES But with the groundbreaking ceremony complete, the northwest corner of Greenway Business Park quickly began to lose its field-like qualities. Cleared brush and leveled dirt gave way to a concrete slab for the warehouse portion of the building in late April. Having suggested many of the improvements for our new warehouse, Roger is understandably proud of the advantages it offers.

“We’re doubling the total size of our previous Tulsa warehouses,” he says excitedly, “but because of the increased height of our new warehouse, and because of how we’ve arranged the aisles and the shelving, we’re actually tripling the storage capacity. Our shipping stations are now all centrally located, which cuts down on foot travel, and the aisles are large enough to accommodate a brand new driveable stock picker made by JLG. All these things will make us even more efficient than ever before.”

With the remainder of the foundation poured in May, work began on the tilt-up walls that would form the periphery of the aboveground structure. Soon enough, the temporary braces supporting these walls were replaced by red steel girders. The tornado-proof concrete bunker that houses our computer servers was poured (vertically) in June. As July arrived, the interior framing began in earnest for the individual offices (nearly 40 in all) that are now occupied by our sales, customer service, engineering, quality, and accounting personnel. Tracking the progress of the construction was a source of constant fascination for Rick.

“As an engineer by trade,” he says, “I love seeing how things are put together, so of course visiting the building site each day was like being a kid in a candy store. If you stop to think about it, building a building is not unlike molding a rubber part: you must design it well, select good materials, and shape those materials properly.”

FINISHING TOUCHES As summer submitted to fall, walls and windows throughout the facility did indeed take shape. Outside walkways were poured, and loblolly pines were snugged into place amidst the carefully crafted flowerbeds that bound the building. What some might see as purely aesthetic touches, Roger sees as a way to give back to the RL Hudson family.

“Sure, we wanted the building and grounds to look good,” he says, “but it’s also about creating a pleasing environment for the employees. They’ve contributed so much to the success of this company, and they deserve to have a good place to work. We want each and every person to be proud to pull into our parking lot in the mornings.”

But the changes are more than cosmetic. Our in-house quality assurance lab, for example, now incorporates a number of sophisticated new instruments that will further expand our testing and inspection capabilities. At a more basic level, both Rick and Roger are confident that everyone in the company will benefit from having more workspace.

“Anyone who knows me,” says Rick, “knows that one of my primary goals has always been to give people a nice place to work. It’s simple: people who are comfortable and have the resources they need always do their best. And RL Hudson’s main priority is to give our customers the very best, both in our products and in our customer service.”

DREAM COME TRUE Having invested so much of himself into the building (lovingly dubbed the “Rog Mahal” by Hudson employees), it’s understandable if Roger is a little torn about the new facility now being complete.

“I really enjoyed the entire construction process,” he admits. “I’m definitely glad to see the building completed for our employees, and I know our customers will benefit greatly, but part of me will miss the day-to-day process. It was a great challenge, and I learned a lot. Hopefully we can do it again…in about twenty years!”

For Rick, the completed building is a source of both pride and wonder, especially when he compares images of what the bare field looked like less than one year ago and what the finished facility looks like today.

“As I’ve visited the building site,” says Rick, “especially over the past month or so, I’ve definitely felt like Costner’s character does in Field of Dreams when he surveys the completed baseball diamond for the first time. Sometimes I can hardly believe that the building is really there, and that it’s now our home.”

He pauses just a moment, then a big smile forms. “But, believe me, I’m sure glad it is!”