Crown Equipment - Open 24 Hours With CribMaster

By WinWare, Inc.

There are some things we all wish we could have 24 hours a day. Like a nice meal, or a quality TV program in the middle of the night. Much like the rest of the manufacturing world, Crown Equipment, the makers of the number one brand electric lift trucks in the US, is no exception. They require access to their inventory 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But unlike their peers, Crown took the necessary steps to ensure their employees could access what they needed no matter what time it was.

Crown is a corporation which has received over 50 product design awards, been nationally recognized for their DP (Demonstrated Performance) QuickStart™ training program, and honored by the EPA for their waste minimization efforts. This is a company with innovation and efficiency at the heart of its design and manufacturing philosophies.

It became apparent to Crown that there must be a better way to manage indirect materials than what was currently in place. Brenda Hughes, Supervisor and Buyer for Crown Equipment noted, "We really needed to get product to the operators on the machines." We felt our replenishment was effective, but unavailability for all three shifts was hurting production." Crown, being the forward-thinking organization that they are, began to look at RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) to help with their indirect material challenges.