 New Polywater facility, looking northwest  Old Polywater factory, looking northeast |
Earlier in Friday Fax Issue #522 we ridiculed Thomas Wolfe's famous adage that, "You can never go home again." We wrote: "We just think that's wrong ... and we can prove it. Seven years ago in September 2001, three days after the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington D.C., Polywater's sales, accounting, and other office personnel left their lab, production, warehouse, and purchasing brethren behind and occupied new office digs two miles from the factory, a move necessitated by our having outgrown the existing facility. While the organization was able to function efficiently as a split operation over the past seven years, the physical separation was a cultural shock. "Those employees are now moving home soon. When the office/warehouse building next door to our factory suddenly came up for sale, we took advantage of the opportunity and bought it. After a few months of renovation, we'll be moving in. We might even throw up a picture of the new place in a future issue." We wanted to show you that picture of our new building right after we finished construction, but there was no landscaping ... and then, despite Al Gore's best prognostications, the annual Minnesota ice sheet advanced south out of Canada to bury the whole site in white for half a year. Now that the ice sheet has receded to Duluth and the lawn has sprouted, we're able to share our New Facility in all its verdant glory. The original factory is right across the parking lot. That's Sharon's office there in the new building, fifth window from the right. Wait a minute! What is Sharon doing in the parking lot? Why isn't she at her post? |
