Sustainability and Environmental Responsibility Report - Catalog - Page 12
ENVIRONMENTA L /
Crown’s Facilities and Processes
A commitment to environmental stewardship has always been an inherent
part of Crown’s business philosophy.
Crown employees understand they have
a responsibility and opportunity to contribute to the health and prosperity of
future generations. It’s all a part of being
a good corporate citizen.
Vertically integrated
manufacturing is smart
business
Crown’s performance often defies
national business trends. One reason is
its unique vertical integration strategy.
Crown is vertically integrated across 19
global manufacturing facilities. Crown
From Crown’s corporate offices to its
manufacturing plants, Crown makes
important decisions every day that
reduce its environmental footprint.
Reducing waste and recycling is valued
at all Crown facilities. For example,
Crown promotes reuse and recycling
of steel, plastic, powder coating, paper,
cardboard, oil and batteries on a global
scale. The company continues to make
strides through:
both designs and manufactures up to
85 percent of the components used in
its lift trucks including electric motors, drive units, valve bodies, masts,
cylinders, forks, seats and more. Unlike
other manufacturers that source their
components, Crown’s vertically integrated supply chain helps improve quality
control and supply chain coordination.
Vertical integration brings together every
aspect of Crown’s production process
• Increased energy efficiency
• Lean business processes and vertical
integration
• Smart resource consumption
toward the common goal of creating
superior material handling products for
its customers. Some of the benefits of
vertical integration include:
• Fewer materials transported resulting
in fewer greenhouse gas emissions
• Sustainable environmental practices
that reduce waste, control costs and
increase efficiency
• Control that helps ensure safe
environmental working conditions
and regulatory requirements are met
– a level of compliance difficult for
other manufacturers to attain through
outsourcing
• Consistent global production
standards for all the lift trucks and
components produced
• Reuse, recycling and reduction of
harmful chemicals
Vertically integrated manufacturing
allows Crown to manage the company’s
warehouse footprint by only manufacturing the components that are needed
at the time — resulting in a small spare
parts inventory. It also enables the company to develop and continually improve
standardized manufacturing processes
• Elimination of waste
globally and provides a flexibility and
• Comprehensive recycling efforts
creative freedom that brings customers
value in innovative ways, as seen in
Crown has shared lean
manufacturing successes and
best practices as part of the Ohio
State University’s Leading Through
Excellence summit, which included
a sold-out tour of Crown facilities.
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GLOBAL SUSTAINABILIT Y
many of the features found on Crown
forklifts. It provides a level of control
and consistency that brings quality and
increased reliability to customers.
