Crown Equipment showcases vertically integrated manufacturing

Crown Equipment Corporation shared a few of its successes regarding the company’s vertically integrated approach to manufacturing at this year’s IMPACT Manufacturing Summit in Denver.

Dave Beddow, Crown Equipment’s vice president of manufacturing operations, discussed at this year’s event (August 17-19) how a long-term, vertically integrated manufacturing approach can bring together every aspect of a company’s production process toward the common goal of creating superior products. He also highlighted how this can be done while meeting customer expectations and needs regarding product quality, performance, cost and delivery.

“Vertically integrated manufacturing provides Crown Equipment a level of control that enables unsurpassed quality, and increased dependability and reliability for our customers,” said Beddow. “By sharing our experience and successes, we hoped to mitigate some of the perceived and real risk of vertical integration for conference attendees. Topics included levels of commitment, types of infrastructure, and partnerships to assure manufacturing’s ability to continue to produce components that achieve high quality and maximum flexibility at competitive costs.”

Crown Equipment designs and manufactures the majority of its forklifts and components, including electric motors, drive units, valve bodies, masts, power units, cylinders, electronic modules, wire harnesses, forks, seats and more. The company is vertically integrated across 16 global manufacturing facilities and the approach extends throughout its distribution model of Crown-owned branches and independent dealers.

According to its website, IMPACT Manufacturing Summit is an executive-level manufacturing conference in the United States, playing host to hundreds of senior level executives from discrete, process and food & beverage manufacturers. The program delivers a “unique mixture of: strategic presentations and panels from industry thought leaders, real-world customer led case studies, targeted research meetings with leading solution providers, and unparalleled networking opportunities with high profile industry peers.”