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Crane Cams shuts down, workers laid off

By JIM WITTERS
Senior Business Writer

DAYTONA BEACH — Crane Cams, a 56-year-old auto parts manufacturer, closed its doors this week and laid off its employees, a worker said today.

The news took Volusia County’s top economic development officer by surprise. City, county and state officials were working with Crane Cams and officials from its New Jersey parent, Mikronite Technologies, to keep the company open and in the community.

“We were trying to help them through this transition,” said Rick Michael, Volusia County economic development director. “They were considering a transfer of ownership. We were not expecting any closure.”

An automated voice mail system at Crane’s plant on Fentress Boulevard announced at midday today the company was closed and suggested calling back during business hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. A call to Mikronite’s New Jersey offices produced similar results. Six cars sat in the parking lot early this afternoon at the local plant, which employed 220 just three years ago.

Inside the lobby, a reception desk sat empty. A call from the lobby phone got an answer from Dennis Burgess, who declined to comment and said no one at the plant could provide information.

In the parking lot, 14-year employee Ronald Dorn was leaving the plant for what he believed was the last time

He said workers were told during the past week that layoffs were likely, but he didn’t expect the plant to close.

Mikronite received approval in 2006 to receive tax rebates from the state and the county amid discussion about moving its New Jersey operations here. But the company ended its contract with the state in 2008 due to nonperformance, Michael said.

“Crane has gone through a series of small layoffs recently,” he said.

Crane Cams and Crane Technologies Group were founded by Harvey J. Crane Jr. in 1953 as Crane Engineering Inc. in Hallandale. The company is well known in high-performance and racing circles for its line of camshafts and engine valve train components.

In 1979, Crane Cams became an employee-owned company. Some operations moved to Daytona Beach in 1981, with the remainder of the operation and employees relocating here in 1985.

Tod74

Read that on YB yesterday...hard to believe. That is to racing almost like McDonalds going under would be to the fast food industry..


Anyone know who makes/made their lifters and rockers for them?

signsbyesa

wow thats sad, i have bought a cam and their hi-fire ignition
system and it worked real good, wonder how many other
performance companies are going to go under :?

zipper06

What hasn't been mentioned here on the forum, is that a little over 3 weeks ago MSD also went into bankrupt court, i don't know what chapter they filed, be it re-organisation or what, but they are definately in trouble also. I got this imfo from my ProComp distributor, i don't know that it's public knowledge but it has happened. It's hard to believe that Crane has gone down, i guess now it's who's next. I think some of the problems has been that they bought into these cheap Chinese parts and it's cost them in the long run. I got a call from someone on Sunday, that they had lost 7 flat tappet cams in 8 months, due to junk lifters. I was told that there are only 2 manufacturers that make cam cores and every flat tappet lifter comes from china except GM's. That cam company is Bullit.

Zip.

Zip.

outlaw256

damn im at a loss for words here.crane is older than me. thats all we used in the day then i went to competion cams in the late 70s, until this engine i just built and had to tear down with less than 60 miles on it.had a lifter base cup up like a contac lense.crane cam and lifters. never had that happen before. thought i did something wrong(still might be my fault). but i like thinking its cranes fault!even if we dont use their products its a sad day because they were a leader in the industry and when the leader goes so do others.man my world is changing faster than i can deal with.

Xrated1

I dont get it!!, A fifty plus year old company that is known in the industry as a leader, goes through what, 4 maybe 5 months of "hard times" and all of a sudden they are bankrupt. What gives here? Not to pick on Crane but seems this exact thing has happened alot in the past month or so.

Ontario350

The problem with many of these small to mid range companies is how they operate. Quite a few lost big money from investments that was out of their hands but catches them up anyway. I have witnessed dozens of small firms up here in Ontario simply shutting down with little notice.

Many also operate on credit lines which in the past was nothing to even consider, not anymore. If your firm doesn't have big time collateral or a AAA credit line your likely to lose your working cash. Add to that slumping sales and Crane like many other companies become insolvent almost overnight.

Banks don't give a rats behind who you are. If your going to be leveraged they would be happier if you went elsewhere.

RonOwensRacing

Being in the parts business and selling some of there parts crane has been in trouble for a couple of years it wasn't over nite that it happened they was sold a few years back and never did really recover i know just about every time i called for parts they didn't have it and that really started last year .

And from some of the news that I'm getting there is a couple of more getting ready to close i would like to say the names but not right now because it is a rumour to me as of now we will see in the next month or so.

But it was no surprise to me that crane is closed at all.

Scooterz

That is news to me.... hard to gut that one. Some times the Big companies grow fast & fall even faster... when times are tough. That is sad...

zipper06

I was talking to A HP valve manufacturer in Fl. this morning, and discussing Crane

REV - Racing Engine Valves, Inc.

He told me that Crane, was trying to sell off some of their equipment about 5 mos. ago but had no takers as far as he knew.

Zip.