Crown Equipment Corporation
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Crown Equipment Corporation
A privately held, family-owned U.S. company, Crown Equipment Corporation is the sixth largest manufacturer of powered industrial lift trucks in the world. According to industry reports, Crown had $1.67 billion in worldwide sales revenue for fiscal year 2006[1], solely through sales of electric lift trucks.
Based in the small community of New Bremen, Ohio, Crown got its start manufacturing first temperature controls for coal-burning furnaces and then television antenna rotators. It diversified in several directions before finding its niche in the material handling industry. Its heavy-duty lift trucks are used in a variety of applications, such as transporting goods through the narrow aisles of warehouses, distribution centers and manufacturing facilities. They can move four-ton loads and can stack pallets nearly 45 feet high.
| Crown Equipment Corporation | |
|---|---|
| Type | Private |
| Founded | 1945 |
| Headquarters | Ohio, Germany, Australia, and China |
| Products | Lift Trucks |
| Revenue | $1.67 billion (2006) |
| Employees | 8,300 worldwide |
| Website | [http://www.crown.com |
Corporate headquarters: New Bremen, Ohio, USA. Additional corporate offices in Munich, Germany; Sydney, Australia; and Suzhou, China. Number of employees: 8,300 worldwide. Estimated sales revenue: $1.67 billion in 2006[2]. Distribution: Thirty-seven Crown owned branches and sixty independent dealers (U.S.). Incorporated: 1945 as Crown Controls Corp. became Crown Equipment Corporation October 15, 1988.
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[edit] Leadership
Carl and Allen Dicke and Carl’s son Jim Dicke founded Crown Controls in 1945. In 1952, when Carl died, 31-year-old Jim Dicke became president. Jim Dicke II was president from 1980 to 2002 and is the current CEO. Jim Dicke III is Crown’s current president.
[edit] Manufacturing Facilities
A vertically integrated company, Crown manufactures 85 percent of the parts used in its lift trucks, producing everything from wire harnesses to electric motors. Crown’s lift truck manufacturing facilities include over 1.5 million square feet in west central Ohio. Crown also has manufacturing facilities in Celina, Ohio, Kinston, North Carolina, and Greencastle and Connersville, Indiana. It has manufacturing, distribution and sales operations in Australia, England, Germany and Mexico. Since April 2006, Crown has been manufacturing hand pallet trucks in a 150,000 square-foot facility in Suzhou, China, a high-tech industrial park located west of Shanghai.
All Crown manufacturing facilities – including the small components, motor, mast and final assembly plants, as well as engineering, purchasing, design, distribution center and tool rooms have obtained ISO 9001:2000 certification (ISO 9001:2000 is an International Standard for Quality Management Systems that focuses on customer satisfaction and continuous improvement).
Crown received the State of Ohio Governors award for Outstanding Achievements in Pollution Prevention in 1992[1]. In 2004, EPA designated Crown a Waste Minimization Partner, publicly recognizing the firm for its voluntary efforts. As part of EPA’s National Partnership for Environmental Priorities[2] (NPEP) program, Crown set a partnership goal of eliminating chromium from its paints. Crown reduced its hazardous waste emissions by more than 300,000 pounds by removing chromium (in the form of ammonium dichromate as a flash rust inhibitor) from water-based paint formulations. By installing a new powder coat paint line, Crown eliminated more than 65 percent of wastewater from its water curtain paint booths, cutting more than 200,000 pounds of wastewater and sludge. The results included reduced air emissions, a better work environment and a savings of $65,000 a year[3].
[edit] Crown Products
Crown manufactures narrow-aisle and very narrow-aisle stacking equipment, narrow aisle reach trucks, rider counterbalanced trucks, high-level stockpickers, turret trucks, walkie stackers, work assist vehicles, hand pallet trucks, powered pallet trucks, and rider pallet trucks.
In 1972, Crown introduced its first big product, a rider counterbalanced (RC) truck, used for loading and unloading highway trucks at the docks. The RC solved an old problem, the operator traveling in reverse had to turn around and operate the controls from behind his back. In Crown’s RC, the driver, standing sideways, could see both forward and backward by turning his head.
Crown’s next major product was the rider reach (RR) truck, introduced in 1980, designed for the narrow aisles of warehouses and distribution centers. Legs, or outriggers, kept the tall, narrow truck balanced. The RR truck won the “Design of the Decade” award from the Industrial Designers Society of America in 1990. In late 1994, Crown appeared for the first time on Forbes’ list of the top 400 private companies in sales. Crown lift trucks have won more than 50 design awards[3].
Crown set out to design a turret stockpicker with tight turning radiuses that would enable operators to transport, store and pick palletized goods in very narrow-aisle (VNA) environments, to maximize the use of available cubic storage space by improving the reach both up to high storage space and across to both sides of a very narrow aisle. Crown’s TSP 6000 Series (Turret Stockpicker) won a 2007 international “best of the best” Red Dot design award[[4]]. The TSP 6000 turret stockpicker features a Move ControlTM seat, which swivels to four different positions, making it easier to handle several tasks simultaneously in very narrow aisles. The Mono-Mast is designed to minimize twisting and swaying. The TSP 6000 also received a Silver IDEA Award from the Industrial Designers Society of America, the GOOD DESIGNTM Award[5] from the Chicago and Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and the iF product design award from the International Forum Design in Hanover, Germany.
Crown's Turret Stockpicker enables warehouse storage on shelves dozens of feet above the floor |(photo by Thomas.net industrial newsroom)
Stackers (electric walk-behind lift trucks) are used in smaller warehouses and retail facilities to transport pallets, pick orders, move heavy items or simply serve as a portable, durable, adjustable-height work tool. Crown’s ST/SX 3000 Stacker Series received a Gold IDEA Award in 2007[6], presented by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). Jurists noted in particular the X10® handle, which significantly improved ergonomics by allowing all primary controls (lift, travel and horn) to be activated simultaneously and comfortably with just one hand.
The truck also has a low-profiled power unit and mast (housing hydraulic hoses), which improves visibility for the truck operator, a large integrated storage tray (for tools, pens, knives, etc.), a folding work tray built into the load backrest and a bungee-type strap to secure loose paper, all within easy reach of the operator. Several components easily separate for reuse or recycling, including the steel, plastics, hydraulic fluids and lead-acid batteries. “Crown sets the standard with an extremely well-planned, intuitive, attractive, functional and appropriate product. You just want to use it,” said Robin Edman, CEO of the Swedish Industrial Design Foundation[7].
The X10 handle of the ST/SX 3000 Stacker also won a GOOD DESIGNTM award from the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design in 2004.
The Wave® Work Assist Vehicle, brought to market in the late 1990s, is designed to transport, put away or retrieve loads, replacing handcarts, rolling ladders and warehouse ladders in both warehouses and manufacturing, maintenance and retail facilities.
[edit] Fuel Cell Development
In March 2008, the state of Ohio awarded Crown nearly $1 million in grant funding to conduct fuel cell research[8]. Crown’s research will address the technical and commercial barriers to using available battery replacement fuel cell power packs in industrial lift trucks. The study will facilitate the creation and growth of fuel-cell-powered material handling equipment for use in warehouses and distribution centers. Crown will review the performance of each combination of its lift trucks with fuel cell power, to identify modifications needed to allow the lift truck to perform as intended while complying with industry standards. The Ohio Department of Development and Ohio’s Third Frontier Commission[9] are providing the grant.
[edit] Hamech
In January 2008, Crown entered into a branding agreement with Komatsu lift trucks to distribute internal combustion lift trucks in the United States and Canada[10]. The new brand of internal combustion lift trucks is to be marketed under the name Hamech (pronounced Hay-meck). The products will be based upon Komatsu’s current model range.
The Crown distribution network will manage all parts orders, service support and warranty for Hamech just as they do now for Crown-manufactured products.
[edit] Online Sales
In 2008 Crown became the first major lift truck manufacturer to use the Internet to conduct sales. The company’s hand pallet truck can be purchased online and Crown is exploring how feasible it is to sell other lift trucks online.
[edit] Training
In 2006, Crown’s training approach, called DP QuickStartTM, earned an Award of Excellence for Outstanding Instructional Product from the International Society for Performance Improvement[11] (ISPI). Under the Demonstrated Performance (DP) instructional method, lift truck service technician’s must show they have mastered one core skill needed to service an industrial lift truck before moving on to learn the next one. With DP QuickStart, which replaced lecture-based training sessions, technicians study and practice at their own pace while completing 40 modules.
[edit] Early History
The company traces its evolution to the 1920s, when it manufactured and sold temperature controls for coal-burning furnaces as the Pioneer Heat Regulator Company. That market disappeared as the nation turned to gas heat. In 1945, the company was changing focus and became Crown Controls Corp. In 1949, as a market for television emerged, Crown began producing television antenna rotators. For two decades, starting in the late 1950s, Crown’s survival and growth were supported by intensive subcontract work, manufacturing mechanical and electrical components for private industry (e.g., Baldwin Pianos and IBM) and the U.S. government, especially the military.
Crown entered the materials handling industry with niche products in which the major players had no interest. After shipping its first model in 1956, Crown developed several specialty lift trucks, including stockpickers and order pickers for the U.S. government, a hamper-dumper truck for the U.S. Postal Service, and trucks for carrying caskets and cadavers for funeral parlors[4]. With a popular truck for carrying tobacco leaves, Crown learned to avoid short-season customers, some of whom returned the trucks before they paid their invoices. Then Crown decided to stop making so many one-of-a-kind trucks and developed two lines of E-Z Lift Trucks: an H series (hand-operated) and a B series (battery-operated). In 1959, when its lift trucks had annual sales of about $50,000, antenna rotators had annual sales of $700,000[5], but the transition to the lift truck business was under way. Crown stopped manufacturing the rotators in late 2000.
Crown hired Deane Richardson[12] and David B. Smith[www.idsa.org/whatsnew/sections/dh/personal_rec_awards/1995_Smith.html], of RichardsonSmith, to design a medium-duty hand-controlled pallet truck, which went on the market in 1962. That pallet truck won a design excellence award from the American Iron and Steel Institute in 1965. Good design became part of Crown’s corporate strategy[6]. Crown snuck quietly into unfilled market niches, which didn’t affect Crown’s biggest competitors, whose bread and butter were gas trucks and electric rider trucks. In 1970, Levitz, the furniture discounter, placed an order for 67 Crown stockpickers, which got momentum for sales going. That year, Crown joined the Industrial Truck Association[13] and opened a plant in Australia.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Kator, Corinne. “Top 20 lift truck suppliers,” Modern Materials Handling, July 1, 2007. http://www.mmh.com/article/CA6458186.html
- ^ Kator, Corinne. “Top 20 lift truck suppliers,” Modern Materials Handling, July 1, 2007. http://www.mmh.com/article/CA6458186.html
- ^ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Crown Equipment Corporation eliminates chromium, expands NPEP project and saves over $65,000 annually.” http://www.epa.gov/npep/success/crown.htm
- ^ Chapter 8, “Crown Breaks into the Lift Truck Market (1956-72),” from By Design by Pat McNees.
- ^ Bidwell, quoted on p. 71, By Design. In a 1968 report to Crown, the Booz-Allen consulting firm predicted an end to the market for antenna rotators. They sold steadily for three more decades. Crown stopped producing them in October 2000.
- ^ Design Management Institute Case Study. Crown Equipment Corporation: Design Services Strategy. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1991; “What’s a Pretty Truck Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (1962-96), from By Design by Pat McNees.
[edit] References
[edit] Publications
McNees, Pat. By Design: The Story of Crown Equipment Corporation. Wilmington, Ohio: Orange Frazer Press, 1997. ISBN 978-1882203154
McNees, Pat. An American Biography: An Industrialist Remembers the Twentieth Century. Washington, DC: Farragut Publishing, 1995. ISBN 978-0918535207
Design Management Institute Case Study. Crown Equipment Corporation: Design Services Strategy. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1991.
Design Management Institute Case Study. Crown Equipment Corporation: Design Services Strategy Epilogue. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1991.
Dicke, James F. II, Crown Equipment Corporation: A Story of People and Growth, New York: Newcomen Society, 1995.
“Design Teams: Managing the Creative Integration of Organizational Resources,” Design Management Journal, Vol 2, No. 2, Spring 1991, pp. 19-23.
[edit] External Links
Crown Equipment Corporation http://www.crown.com
“Crown Stackers Win Design Award,” forkliftaction.com, Materials Handling Online, 26 July 2007[14].
David B. Smith [www.idsa.org/whatsnew/sections/dh/personal_rec_awards/1995_Smith.html]
Design Management Institute Case Study. Crown Equipment Corporation: Design Services Strategy. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1991[15].
Deane Richardson [16]
Design Management Institute Case Study. Crown Equipment Corporation: Design Services Strategy Epilogue. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1991[17].
Pat McNees [18]
State of Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Pollution Prevention Fact Sheet, Number 12, May 1993 EPA's National Partnership for Environmental Priorities [19]
“Top 35 forklift manufacturers for 2004/03,” as ranked by dhf magazine December 2004, printed in English in forkliftaction.com news[20]. | Rankings in pdf format.
