Crown Equipment Corporation (Australia)

A privately held, family-owned U.S. company, Crown Equipment Corporation is the fifth largest manufacturer of powered industrial forklift trucks in the world. Crown had $4.01 billion in worldwide sales revenue for fiscal year 2021. Crown has appeared at least ten times on Forbes’ list of the largest private companies in the United States. In 2021, the company ranked 123rd on that list.

Based in the small community of New Bremen, Ohio, Crown got its start by first manufacturing temperature controls for coal-burning furnaces and then television antenna rotators. It diversified in several directions, before finding its niche in the material handling industry. Its lift trucks are used worldwide in a variety of applications, such as transporting goods through the narrow aisles of warehouses, distribution centers and manufacturing facilities.

Corporate headquarters: New Bremen, Ohio, USA. Additional corporate offices in Munich, Germany; Sydney, Australia; and Suzhou, China. Number of employees: 16,100 worldwide. Estimated sales revenue: $4.01 billion in 2021. Incorporated: 1945 as Crown Controls Corp.; became Crown Equipment Corporation on October 15, 1988.