Crown to hire 100 new workers

NEW BREMEN - Crown Equipment Corporation officials look to fill roughly 100 job openings locally amid a surge in forklift orders from customers in supply chain industries.

The jobs are at New Bremen, Celina, New Knoxville and Minter sites, said Randy Niekamp, Crown's human resources vice president.

"We have a variety of openings right now - IT, engineering, light assembly, heavy assembly, welding, machining, fabrication, entry level production support. So, a wide range of positions," Niekamp said Wednesday.

Crown specializes in lift trucks and material handling equipment. It designs and manufacturers up to 85% of components contained in its products and maintains its sales, service and training operations, according to a company news release.

Niekamp credits the recent upswing in hiring to a combination of factors linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Basically, with the increase in e-commerce and the whole pressure on the supply chain, it's created a need for our products, to be able to move needed products, vaccines, all those sorts of things," he said. "We're definitely understanding how the supply chain works, much better than ... before the pandemic, that's for sure."

The supply chain has been pushed to the limit with increased and changing demands amid the pandemic, company senior vice president Jim Mozer noted in the news release.

"Crown, as an equipment and service supplier to critical industries, is focused on helping ensure that our customers have the equipment and support they need to continue to move products and maintain vital supply chains," Mozer said. "This is creating significant career opportunities across a variety of job roles."

Crown operates a service and distribution network that exceeds 500 retail locations in more than 80 countries, according to the news release. Niekamp said 25% of the company's sales are international.

"Right now we're seeing some very, very high order volumes, which is good. How long that's sustainable, who knows," he said. "We've been very, very busy here lately."

Niekamp was quick to point out that the supply chain remains "very fragile." Crown has been affected by the global semiconductor shortage but officials have managed to keep operations full for the time being.

In May 2020, Niekamp had confirmed that Crown had implemented voluntary and temporary layoffs at the New Bremen and Celina locations. Supply chain interruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic had left the company unable to acquire certain necessary components, affecting production on certain model lines, even as demand had increased for products, Niekamp had said at the time.

Some of those employees have since returned to work, Niekamp confirmed on Wednesday afternoon.

New Bremen-based Crown, which was founded in 1945, has become one of the largest material-handling companies in the world. It has regional headquarters in Australia, China, Germany and Singapore and employs more than 16,100 worldwide.