50
ROYAL
ASSENT
When brothers Carl and Allen Dicke founded Crown
Equipment Corporation in New Bremen, Ohio, back
in 1945, they could not have anticipated that
75 years later a fourth generation of the family
would be leading the company from its New Bremen
global headquarters and employing 16,000
employees worldwide.
Crown has a long history of developing advanced
technology that has helped determine and defi ne the
future of material handling. After World War II it
became a subcontractor to Joyce-Cridland, a fi rm
that manufactured hydraulic lifts for cars, trucks and
buses. Crown’s powered pallet truck was launched
in 1962 and won a design excellence award from the
American Iron and Steel Institute, laying the
foundation for the company’s new brand image as
a material handling company. Soon after this it
began its fi rst overseas operation in Australia. Today
it boasts regional headquarters in Australia, China,
Germany and Singapore and operates a service and
distribution network that exceeds 500 retail
locations in over 80 countries.
The company has continued to explore new
technology right across its range. Most recently, it
expanded its range of internal combustion engine
counterbalance forklifts, enhanced the operator
experience and effi ciency with the introduction of the
new InfoLink 7in Touch Display Module and
announced a now line of lithium-ion-battery
powered forklifts. As Crown enters the new decade
and celebrates three-quarters of a century in
existence, it is working closely with customers to
anticipate and incorporate trends in the warehouse
and broader supply chain.
“It’s exciting to think about what the company will
accomplish in the next 75 years,” said Jim Dicke III,
Crown president.
LOOKING BACK.
Crown Equipment may be 75 this year but it remains in the hands of a family
still intent on pushing the boundaries in warehousing
iVTInternational.com June 2020
The Bumper-Upper auto jack, which
Crown helped to manufacture
Crown’s fi rst powered pallet truck
reached the market in 1962
Today, Crown’s DualMode T tow
tractor enables warehouses to
take an incremental approach to
deploying automation solutions
Crown’s
second
plant opened
in the 1950s
in downtown New
Bremen, Ohio, the
town where its HQ is still
located today
Ned Kelly (left), ran Crown’s Australian
operation in its early days in the 1960s
/iVTInternational.com