Ruston, La.—A philosopher once said, “Everything big, starts small,” which can apply to a dream, a company or a Red Oak tree and everything in between. That’s exactly what happened about 13 years ago when two 23-year-old men from Louisiana decided to open a small Hardwood distribution yard in the Northern part of the state.
Clay Hipp and I were working in the melamine industry and we were calling on Hardwood distribution yards in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Mississippi,” said David Hogan, chief executive officer of Hogan Hardwoods & Moulding Co., headquartered here. “After a while, we decided to open a small distribution yard in Ruston. At first we were marketing plastic laminate and began adding Hardwood lumber, plywood and some mouldings.”
The two worked in a 3,500-square-foot building and soon had to add an 8,000-square-foot addition after hiring Arvin Moeller, a vice president of the company. Moeller had plenty of experience working in the Hardwood industry and used that knowledge to increase the Hardwood side of the business.
And increase they did.
Today, just 13 short years after opening, it might be easier to list what Hogan Hardwoods & Moulding does not handle than what they do. In addition to the sprawling Ruston headquarters, they operate 10 distribution yards located in Ruston, Baton Rouge and Lafayette, La.; Jacksonville and Little Rock, Ark.; Austin, Grand Prairie and Houston, Texas; Oklahoma City, Okla.; and Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. Combined there is 1 million square feet of warehouse space, over 500 employees, 102 over-the-road trucks and sales that should exceed $200 million this year.
The growth mainly came from acquisitions. In early 2004, Hogan purchased five distribution yards from Frank Paxton Lumber Co. The company also purchased a Willamette plywood plant and transferred all of its manufacturing and moulding operations to that 44-acre site. The hub facility is equipped with a rail spur allowing for six cars to be loaded or unloaded at a time. Dry kilns were also installed.
David Hogan, chief executive
officer; Arvin Moeller, vice president of marketing and head of
central purchasing; and Clay Hipp, president, make up the
management staff at Hogan Hardwoods & Moulding.
The firm recently completed
construction on a new company headquarters, located in Ruston,
La.
All eight moulders at Hogan’s
central manufacturing facility are equipped with automated
infeed and outfeed material handling systems.
