What a shame 50 some year old business down the tubes.
Jeff
Crane Cams
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Wow, disappointing.
- Robert
- Robert
There was a press release that said 'watch this space' in hopes of a restructure and come back in some form.
I'll share what I've learned so far.
Crane Cams was founded by Harvey Crane, Jr. in 1953 in Hallendale, Florida and operated from a corner of his father’s machine shop. As his business grew Harvey Crane Jr. eventually moved his company into its own facilities in Hallendale. For many years Crane had purchased its steel cam cores from Universal Camshaft Company, of Muskegon, Michigan. When that company became available in 1975 Crane acquired it, thereby providing itself with a stable, long-term source for steel cam cores. That operation was moved in 1981 to a newly constructed manufacturing center in Daytona Beach Florida. In 1985 Crane Cams left Hallandale Florida and joined Universal Camshaft in Daytona Beach.
For 26 years Crane Cams was family owned, and became employee owned in 1979. Harvey Crane Jr. was “let go” in 1989, and founded his own camshaft consulting company the following year.
Crane Cams acquired Camshaft Machine Company and its plants in Michigan and Indiana in 1994. To better reflect its new market mix, the company's name was changed to Crane Technologies Group. Five years later the company reversed its decision and sold Camshaft Machine to Federal-Mogul Corp. Crane decided to return to its core cam and valve train business and its roots in the performance market.
Crane Cams was acquired by Mikronite Technologies Group, Inc. of Eatontown, New Jersey in 2006. Mikronite is an industrial technology firm that develops, patents, acquires, and licenses proprietary technologies primarily for materials polishing, surface strengthening, reactivity, uniformity and related processes. They have contracts in the aerospace, automotive, commercial and medical fields. Crane Cams and Mikronite had established a business association in 2005, utilizing Mikronite’s proprietary surface finishing process on a number of valve train components. Mikronite is led by CEO Jeffrey Coats, 51, who is also CEO and a board member of Autobytel. Crane now operates as a division of Mikronite.
Since the acquisition Mikronite Technologies has invested $18 million in new equipment for Crane Cams, seeking to maintain Crane Cams position as a technology leader in the performance camshaft manufacturing industry. Mikronite Technologies also relocated its operations from New Jersey and joined Crane Cams in Daytona Beach after receiving promises of tax rebates from the State of Florida and Volusia County as incentive for the move. The first sign of trouble occured in 2007, when Mikronite sold Crane Cams' Daytona Beach property to STAG Capital Partners in Boston, and then signed a 10-year lease with STAG. The following year (2008) Mikronite terminated its contract with the State of Florida due to nonperformance.
It has been reported Volusia County Florida's economic development department had been working with Crane Cams to help keep them open and Crane’s employees in their jobs. Rick Michael, Volusia County economic development director said “We were trying to help them through this transition, they were considering a transfer of ownership, we were not expecting any closure.”
Crane had employed 220 (some reports said 280) people three years ago but had gone through a series of small layoffs recently. The week prior to the closure workers had been told more layoffs were eminent, but there had been no mention of a plant closure.
Crane Cams shut down Feb. 24 citing restructuring as the reason. Most of the company’s workers were laid off; about 25 remained to work on military contracts. A press announcement by Crane Cams vice president Steve Leva said the closure was in response to the global economic problems, but they expected to reopen in a week to 30 days (sometime in March).
Doesn’t it sound like a dispute between Mikronite and the County of Volusia may be at the core of Crane’s closure rather than financial problems?
Crane Cams was founded by Harvey Crane, Jr. in 1953 in Hallendale, Florida and operated from a corner of his father’s machine shop. As his business grew Harvey Crane Jr. eventually moved his company into its own facilities in Hallendale. For many years Crane had purchased its steel cam cores from Universal Camshaft Company, of Muskegon, Michigan. When that company became available in 1975 Crane acquired it, thereby providing itself with a stable, long-term source for steel cam cores. That operation was moved in 1981 to a newly constructed manufacturing center in Daytona Beach Florida. In 1985 Crane Cams left Hallandale Florida and joined Universal Camshaft in Daytona Beach.
For 26 years Crane Cams was family owned, and became employee owned in 1979. Harvey Crane Jr. was “let go” in 1989, and founded his own camshaft consulting company the following year.
Crane Cams acquired Camshaft Machine Company and its plants in Michigan and Indiana in 1994. To better reflect its new market mix, the company's name was changed to Crane Technologies Group. Five years later the company reversed its decision and sold Camshaft Machine to Federal-Mogul Corp. Crane decided to return to its core cam and valve train business and its roots in the performance market.
Crane Cams was acquired by Mikronite Technologies Group, Inc. of Eatontown, New Jersey in 2006. Mikronite is an industrial technology firm that develops, patents, acquires, and licenses proprietary technologies primarily for materials polishing, surface strengthening, reactivity, uniformity and related processes. They have contracts in the aerospace, automotive, commercial and medical fields. Crane Cams and Mikronite had established a business association in 2005, utilizing Mikronite’s proprietary surface finishing process on a number of valve train components. Mikronite is led by CEO Jeffrey Coats, 51, who is also CEO and a board member of Autobytel. Crane now operates as a division of Mikronite.
Since the acquisition Mikronite Technologies has invested $18 million in new equipment for Crane Cams, seeking to maintain Crane Cams position as a technology leader in the performance camshaft manufacturing industry. Mikronite Technologies also relocated its operations from New Jersey and joined Crane Cams in Daytona Beach after receiving promises of tax rebates from the State of Florida and Volusia County as incentive for the move. The first sign of trouble occured in 2007, when Mikronite sold Crane Cams' Daytona Beach property to STAG Capital Partners in Boston, and then signed a 10-year lease with STAG. The following year (2008) Mikronite terminated its contract with the State of Florida due to nonperformance.
It has been reported Volusia County Florida's economic development department had been working with Crane Cams to help keep them open and Crane’s employees in their jobs. Rick Michael, Volusia County economic development director said “We were trying to help them through this transition, they were considering a transfer of ownership, we were not expecting any closure.”
Crane had employed 220 (some reports said 280) people three years ago but had gone through a series of small layoffs recently. The week prior to the closure workers had been told more layoffs were eminent, but there had been no mention of a plant closure.
Crane Cams shut down Feb. 24 citing restructuring as the reason. Most of the company’s workers were laid off; about 25 remained to work on military contracts. A press announcement by Crane Cams vice president Steve Leva said the closure was in response to the global economic problems, but they expected to reopen in a week to 30 days (sometime in March).
Doesn’t it sound like a dispute between Mikronite and the County of Volusia may be at the core of Crane’s closure rather than financial problems?
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quote:story by news-journalonline.com:
Deal pending to reopen Crane Cams
Staff Report
Scorpion Performance Inc., a company negotiating to buy Crane Cams, is staging a job fair for former Crane employees at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at Crane’s Fentress Boulevard facility, a company official said today.
Scorpion officials have been negotiating to buy Crane for more than a week. Crane closed in late February, leaving about 280 workers without jobs.
"We cannot promise everyone will get their old job back, but all positions will need to be filled," said Scott Reynolds, Scorpion vice president of marketing. "We would like all attendees to bring their resumes detailing what functions they performed at Crane."
Reynolds said food and drinks will be available. The event is not open to the public.
More News: It is reported a company called LiquiTec has been hired to liquidate Crane Cams' assets including machinery, inventory, copyrights and patents on April 22 even while Scorpion Performance Inc. is attempting to acquire it. Is this an attempt to put pressure on Scorpion?.
quote:story by After Market News.com:
UPDATE: Crane Cams to be Liquidated
March 26, 2009
By aftermarketNews staff
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A company called LiquiTec Industries Inc. has been engaged to liquidate the assets of Crane Cams Inc. of Daytona Beach, Fla., one of the world's largest independent manufacturers of camshafts, valve train components and electrical ignition systems for the performance industry.
Established in 1953, Crane Cams is recognized for high quality, precision products that are race-proven to withstand the rigors of competition. Product applications include automotive, motorcycle, marine, aircraft and other specialty markets.
Crane Cams closed unexpectedly in late February and later announced that it planned to restructure and reopen later this spring. That is apparently no longer the case. No information on transition plans for the company’s 280 employees has been provided.
LiquiTec is accepting bids now for Crane Cams’ inventory, trademarks and patents. An auction sale of all remaining inventory and machinery will take place on Wednesday, April 22, at the company’s former headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida. The sale will also be broadcast over the Internet via BidSpotter.com. The sale includes all machinery; all raw materials, work-in-process and finished goods including more than $2 million of high performance and racing application engine components including camshafts, rocker arms, lifters and other parts for most GM, Ford and Mopar engines; 16 trademarks and three patents.
Efforts to sell the business as a whole unit are ongoing, but have been unsuccessful to date, according to LiquiTec. If a buyer interested in the entire turnkey operation does not step forward to close a deal, the auction will go forward as planned on April 22.
For more information or to register to attend the sale, contact LiquiTec at (800) 852-9252. The sale will be conducted by David Gronik, Florida Auctioneer License #AU3852.
Scorpion held the job fair, a spokesman from Scorpion says the deal is 99% done ... News report: Scorpion/Crane Cams job fair
I hope they get to reopen and put those folks back to work.
Jeff
Jeff
GREAT NEWS
quote:Story by PR.com:
Scorpion Performance & Crane Cams Meet to Finalize Sale
Scorpion Performance, Inc., a manufacturer of precision parts for high performance engines, today announced that the purchase of Crane Cams is nearly complete.
Fort Lauderdale, FL, April 04, 2009
--(PR.com)-- Scorpion Performance, Inc. (http://www.scorpionperformance.com), a manufacturer of precision parts for high performance engines, today announced that the purchase of Crane Cams is nearly complete. Crane Cams executives will arrive at Scorpion’s Fort Lauderdale headquarters this week to finalize the details of the sale.
A similar meeting in Fort Lauderdale last week with Crane’s senior leadership proved very productive. Crane Cams, which is one of the best-known brands in the high performance automotive parts industry, closed its doors in February after being in business for 56 years.
Scorpion Performance (http://www.scorpionperformance.com) is already preparing to get the Crane factory back in operation as quickly as possible. On March 26th, Scorpion held a huge Job Fair in the Crane Cams parking lot for almost all 280 former Crane employees. The attendees were treated to free food, drinks, catalogs, T-shirts and hats. After the Job Fair concluded, Scorpion Performance executives took a very thorough tour of the Crane Cams factory to assess the company’s machinery, inventory and other physical assets. This was Scorpion’s second such tour.
According to Scott Reynolds, Scorpion’s Vice President of Marketing, “Scorpion Performance intends to get Crane Cams profitable again through the use of good management, marketing and manufacturing techniques. Over time, we’ll increase production three-fold or more through robotic automation, which will give us the ability to greatly increase sales. New customers are already calling us.”
Camshafts are a logical extension of Scorpion’s line of valve train parts, which includes rocker arms, lifters, pushrods, valves and valve springs. Scorpion Performance (http://www.scorpionperformance.com) manufacturers millions of high performance engine parts that are marketed and distributed through its new retail division, Scorpion Racing Products (SRP).
Contact:
Media Relations Department
Scott Reynolds, Director of Advertising & Branding
954-779-3600 (X216)
954-779-3029 FAX
www.scorpionperformance.com
CRANE CAMS CONFIRMS — AUCTION SALE PROCEEDING AS SCHEDULED
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. EDT
High Performance Camshaft Manufacturer
All Machinery, $2+ Million in Inventory, 16 Trademarks,
Patents and Product Line IP For Sale
Daytona Beach, FL — The sale of Crane Cams is on! Today, Crane Cams announced that it is “…committed to its scheduled auction date of April 22, and is entertaining as many interested buyers as possible.” Crane Cams further stated that “Crane has no agreement to sell its assets to Scorpion Performance, nor has it received any offer of any kind from Scorpion.”
LiquiTec was retained by Crane Cams to conduct a public auction of the company’s assets on April 22, 2009 and is also working to sell the assets before the auction to a variety of buyers who have expressed interest in the company’s very well–established high-performance valve–train and ignition components and product lines. LiquiTec is handling all negotiations in connection with the sale of the Crane Cams’ assets.
Contrary to public statements and news releases issued by Scorpion Performance suggesting that a transaction with Crane Cams was “nearly complete,” and that Scorpion Performance was meeting with Crane Cams to “finalize the details,” LiquiTec has had no discussions with Scorpion Performance whatsoever. Bob Gaudiosi, Vice President of LiquiTec Industries in Mequon, Wisconsin said, “Scorpion’s repeated public statements suggesting their purchase of Crane Cams was imminent has created significant confusion in the marketplace. However, let me assure you, the sale is on and always has been.”
LiquiTec is currently working with a variety of buyers who have expressed an interest in buying Crane Cams® and related trademarks, its very popular product lines and related intellectual property, its inventory and its machinery. Don’t be misled. Everyone has an opportunity to buy the Crane Cams assets. Act now because there are just 9-days remaining.
LiquiTec is accepting bids now for inventory, trademarks, patents and product line IP. An auction sale of all remaining inventory and machinery will take place on Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at the company’s former headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida. The sale will also be broadcast over the internet via BidSpotter.com. For more information or to register to attend the sale, visit www.liquitec.net or call (800) 852–9252. The sale will be conducted by David S. Gronik, Florida Auctioneer License # AU3852.
10218 North Port Washington Road; Mequon, Wisconsin 53092
800 852-9252 | liquitec.net
Ah, I make my own cams...From a block of steel...With a hand held grinder.....Ok, I can only do this for single cylinder cars because matching them is too hard! 
