Crown Equipment Corporation - Manufacturing Facilities

Manufacturing Facilities

Crown manufactures 85 percent of the parts used in its lift trucks, producing components ranging from wire harnesses to electric motors. Crown’s lift truck manufacturing facilities include over 1,500,000 square feet (140,000 m2) in west central Ohio. Crown also has manufacturing facilities in Kinston, North Carolina, and Greencastle and New Castle, Indiana. It has manufacturing, distribution and sales operations in Australia, Germany and Mexico. Since April 2006, Crown has been manufacturing hand pallet trucks in a 150,000-square-foot (14,000 m2) facility in Suzhou, China.

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 Crown received the State of Ohio Governor's award for Outstanding Achievements in Pollution Prevention in 1992. In 2004, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (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 (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.