About Crown

Your Productivity is Our Priority

Our goal is to always provide the user with the safest, most efficient and ergonomic lift truck possible to lower total cost of ownership and increase uptime.

Who We Are

Since its entry into the material handling equipment industry in 1960, Crown has earned a reputation as a leading innovator in world-class forklift and material handling equipment.

Crown designs and manufactures up to 85 percent of its lift truck components, including key parts like motors, drive units, and electronic modules. When it says Crown on the outside, it's a Crown on the inside.

Group of Crown employees surrounding a C-5 internal combustion forklift

Photograph of the assembly process in Crown manufacturing plants.

What We Do

From our smallest hand pallet truck to our highest lifting turret truck, Crown designs, manufactures, distributes, services and supports material handling products that provide customers with superior value.

Our broad global branch network provides a wide variety of quality material handling equipment, storage solutions and support services.

Where We Are

Crown has an extensive global production, sales and service network to meet customer needs anytime, anywhere. Our strategic locations worldwide offer reliable, flexible and responsive support including sales, service, regional training centers and much more.

24

Manufacturing Facilities

500+

Retail Locations

84

Countries

View Global Locations

Product Development

Design that revolutionises the way people work. When it comes to forklifts, it’s all about the experience. With a focus on the operator, Crown’s human-centred designs are created to improve productivity, comfort and safety.

Innovation in Action

Crown’s approach to industrial product design builds upon advanced ideas for lift truck operator productivity, safety and product life span. Our dedication to researching the human-to-forklift relationship produces forklifts designed with the highest capacities and speeds. Incorporating direct operator feedback into our innovative development process, we can address the issues that matter most to our customers.

Designer works on a digital image of a Crown lift truck.

Infusing Technology

At Crown, we harness the power of technology and embed it directly into our product design. Crown-designed automation and fleet management technologies are revolutionising the material-handling industry. Examples include:

InfoLink, our wireless operator and fleet management solution that puts the power of accurate, up-to-date, business metrics right at your fingertips.
QuickPick Remote order-picking technology that simplifies workflow to increase productivity and reduce operator fatigue. This advanced technology helps reduce the number of steps order selectors take on and off a forklift’s platform by up to 70 percent.

Ergonomics

At Crown, we understand the operator costs associated with forklifts. That’s why we design products to make the operator as productive and comfortable as possible while operating our lift trucks. For example, our X10 Handle for walkie pallet and stacker forklifts allows users to complete lifting, traveling and horn functions simultaneously and comfortably with one hand, right or left. These easy-to-use features improve performance and minimise hand and wrist movements.

Crown's exclusive X10 Handle featured on pedestrian pallet

Safety in Focus

In all stages of product development, your safety is an integral part of Crown’s forklift design. To help you protect your operators and improve productivity in your workplace, Crown lift trucks are designed with built-in safety features that help keep your operators safe.

Forklift operator wearing safety harness.

Historical photo of one of Crown's first buildings in New bremen, Ohio

Well-Established Roots

Since 1945, Crown has grown from a one-room operation in rural Ohio to one of the top five largest lift truck manufacturers in the world.

A History of Innovation

Crown’s history began when two brothers, the late Carl H. Dicke and Allen A. Dicke, founded the company in New Bremen, Ohio, in 1945. Today, the fourth generation of the Dicke family continues to lead Crown.

Production of a line of high-quality lift trucks for intermediate-duty use began in 1960. Crown soon became the fastest-growing material handling company in its range of products. Crown lift trucks have earned a reputation as safe, reliable and productive by customers throughout the world, and the innovative spark that fueled Crown’s past success is still alive today. Crown products continue to receive recognition for design excellence, having earned more than 80 prominent design awards.

Today, Crown manufactures a wide variety of electric and internal combustion lift trucks and components in 24 facilities throughout the world. Product sales and service are handled by the company's network of Crown-owned and independent dealers located in key markets. Dealer and sales personnel are factory-trained in all disciplines and backed by advertising.

Our Company Officers

James F. Dicke II, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
James F. Dicke III, President

Steven M. Dues, Senior Vice President
James R. Mozer, Senior Vice President
Craig D. Seitz, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Keith M. Sinram, Senior Vice President
John E. Tate, Senior Vice President

For questions regarding Corporate Compliance, contact compliance@crown.com.