Crown Equipment

Crown Equipment designs and manufactures lift trucks and material handling equipment, from hand pallet trucks to high-lifting turret trucks, in both electric and internal combustion configurations. Founded in 1945 by brothers Carl H. Dicke and Allen A. Dicke as a one-room operation in New Bremen, Ohio, the company is now one of the world's largest lift truck manufacturers. It remains family-owned and is led by the fourth generation of the Dicke family.

The company operates 24 manufacturing facilities worldwide, serves customers in 84 countries and maintains more than 500 retail locations. Vertical integration is central to its engineering approach: Crown manufactures up to 85 percent of its lift truck components in-house, including motors, drive units and electronic modules. Its product line is built on a human-centered design philosophy that prioritises operator productivity, comfort and safety, and the company has received more than 100 global design awards.

Beyond the trucks themselves, Crown develops technology for warehouse operations. InfoLink provides fleet management capabilities, while QuickPick Remote offers remote-control operation for order picking. Technical work spans material handling equipment engineering, electric and internal combustion powertrain design, operator safety and ergonomics, and fleet management software. The company reports founding principles of quality, reliability and customer focus maintained throughout nearly eight decades of operation.