five7kid

iTrader: (14)

http://www.news-journalonline.com/Ne...rane022409.htm

SDIF

That terrible... Its like loosing Coca Cola. Someone will buy the name, there are too many intangibles associated with it. Sorry to hear about the workers.

paul_huryk

That is horrible news.

Meagleson08

That really sucks...I always thought they were doing good...Who would have known...

Bet that makes their prices for what inventory is left sky rocket

1986Z28OWNER

iTrader: (1)

Being in the performance industrie, i saw this coming 6 months ago, the company i work for tried to deal with crane cams as little as possible, because the business we did do with them took forever. we would at times wait months on end for cams, when comp had just about every grind they make in stock. i can remember early last year saying how if crane keeps this up, they are going to go out of business due to loss of customers

Highgeared

I think Micronite Technologies did their best to kill of Crane. Screw Micronite!

Highgeared

Im wondering if Edelbrock is next.

BADMAN

iTrader: (13)

Remember folks,the speed parts industry is not for most people(non-enthusiasts) a priority,just like pleasure boats or jet-skis. Expect other companys in this industry and others to go by the wayside.

AC

iTrader: (3)

Rumor has it that EdelB has started taking things away from regional folks that work for them, ie mileage, allowances, etc. Again, rumor but I'm sure EdelB is hurting just like the rest of them. You have a dart board full of names though that could get hit, Crower, Lunati, Comp, EdelB, TPIS, Acell, SLP, etc etc. I know that the holley name has a plethera (splng?) of names under them as well, which are smaller but still not invincible to whats going on in the ecomony.

1bdbrd

iTrader: (1)

If the customer service I have received from Edelbrock is any indicator then I won't be surprised if they go. I was ready to pull the plug on one of their new 90mm sbc intakes but was confused by the injectors. Sent an email and never heard a word. I had asked some questions a few months ago about the intake as well and it was like pulling teeth trying to get answers from them. Not a way to run a business.

BC GTA

This is sad news indeed. I suspect we had not seen the end of this yet among the big and small high performance parts manufacturers. Crane was in the league of Holley and Edelbrock as companies that began in the 1940’s or 1950’s. Then there are the companies, which have come along in the last 10 to 30 years.

Fords88Bird

Too bad this is going on in the industry, if it's partly because of costumer service then others will definately have the same faith. If more companies would consider mergers it may save some.

iroc a 86 berli

never used crane cams, but it sucks seeing them go out like this. really wonder whos next, high performance industry is pretty much on the back burner cept for the wealthy, or people like me that buy shlt even tho i shouldnt.

406z

The article doesn't say their doomed. Just that they laid off and ceased production. In these times it's hard to justify buying even a new camshaft when the mortgage is behind. I hope they make it through these times, and come out alright. The same goes for Edelbrock, Holley, and any other performance company. I especially hope things turn around for the whole nation. Shame to hear about all those workers without a way to put food on the table.

AC

iTrader: (3)

Umm...406Z, what part of the article saying " closed its doors this week " did you think meant they were coming back? When a business closes its doors, ITS GONE.

_87GTA_

Majority of workers laid off and ceasing production = doomed. Your statement quoted contradicts itself in a mildly humorous way :P

Darkshot

iTrader: (4)

Good thing I just won a lightly used Crane 2032 grind on eBay...I suppose these will start getting hard to find.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

I've been trying to confirm via other sources if this is true, but every reference to a site leads back to the same place.

The "new owners" part is probably wishful thinking.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

I personally feel that aftermarket companies such as Summit Racing and Jegs High Performance, for example, have an obligation to buy and/or partner with these suffering companies to keep them alive and well. This is a time when companies, especially in this field, need to pull together, and shouldn't expect a Government bail out, as bail outs, unfortunately, are strictly reserved for America's bread and butter, the banks....

84Z28406

Why should Summit or Jegs throw their money away to float an obviously losing company for another few months or years? It's better that they continue operating like a business and not a charity.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

Spoken like a true capitalist. Hmm, okay then, maybe one of the Asian companies will buy them, while capitalizing on the Crane name, being that, it does have more than enough credibility throughout the aftermaket industry, and, from a financial standpoint, would be a wise investment route to explore. As for "charity" from Summit and Jegs, both companies profitted from Crane over the years, so I wouldn't necessarily label it charity per se. The Crane products were excellent, however, like many other companies in the same boat, it was their business decisions leading up to this point that hurt them....

84Z28406

I'm not saying that there was a problem with the quality of their products. All I'm saying is that if Crane couldn't make it work, what are the odds that Summit or Jegs would? Perhaps they could make Crane profitable again, or perhaps it would drag them down. I'm sure they've crunched the numbers on it.

406z

I never said they were coming back, but I feel it's a little premature to assume there will never been another crane cam produced. This article is vague in nature, and I haven't seen any less ambiguous articles yet. It merely says they laid off their work force and ceased production.
Their website is up
http://cranecams.com/
With no announcements of a permanent closure.
If no one needs camshafts, and you have overstock....then you'll probably cease production, if you're smart, and minimize losses.

Laying off and ceasing production happens in many industries. Including the auto industry. If Ferrari ceases production early or for a time period it doesn't spell out damnation. In no way is my statement contradictory. Besides I'd rather hope the hundreds of workers eventually get some of their jobs back.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

Because Summit and Jegs both reach, and cater to a larger network of people. The Crane products were excellent, in turn underlining the dedication from their workers. However, it was their business decisions over the years that lead to this, not necessarily the recession. Not to side track this thread, but, recessions are designed to temporarily pull the wool over the publics eyes while the Federal Reserve w/its coresponding Banks clean up on borrowed money left to pay by the generations to come. The companies that stay afloat during this are the companies that made good business decisions beforehand, while the other companies, who made poor decisions, suffer. Recessions, although are real to the general public and small businesses, are nothing more than a money making facade for the larger corporations. It's just a scare tactic, as politics and corporations work hand in hand. If Crane didn't have an excellent product, then they might deserve to go under, but they do, and deserve to be temporarily saved. The economy will bounce back, and I sure as hell hope that Crane (an American Crane) will still be there when it does....

1986Z28OWNER

iTrader: (1)

As i said previously. they do make a quality product, when it was available, i sell this **** everyday. Crane seemed to have no interests in fixing there availability issues, often coming up with some pretty pathetic excuses. crane put the nail in there own coffin, id like to see them come back, but when i can order a special order custom grind for a customer from Comp cams and have it in 2-3 weeks, meanwhile, crane because they are out of cam cores, or there machines are broken, or bob didnt come into work can make it for 2-3 months. I think and know which way the customer is going to go. there is no need for anyone else to support crane and they have no responsibility to do so.

iroc a 86 berli

thats why i use chet herbert cams, they had my custom ground cam at my door within 3 weeks, and only $190, + they are the first roller cams made.

i have always heard crapy things about crane, and have heard nothing but good things about comp.

as for the corperatacarcy with summit/jegs taking control of crane, whats the point.

the reason they are going out of bussiness is because they are loosing there customers due to shlt service to the speed shops that stock/support there products, summit/jegs are already doing them favors by selling there shlt through there catalogs.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

Are you seriously asking what's the point in saving an American based company? A company that makes a fantastic product, has a great deal to offer, and can still bring in a return? As I already pointed out, it was business decisions, or lack thereof, that killed Crane. The right ownership will help the name flourish once again, it doesn't necessarily have to be Summit and/or Jegs, they were examples....

To keep Crane in the market, an established portfolio would be needed, as well as people who know the business well. This is why those two companies were mentioned. However, if people don't see it that way, while emphasizing what's the point, well then, don't cry when more and more companies start to go under, in turn finally giving the left it's reasoning to intervene, change and enforce legislation regarding hot rodding, and simply do what they always wanted to do, control it....

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

It doesn't make any sense for a retailer to take over a manufacturer. Summit and Jegs are good at selling, not manufacturing. All that stuff that has their name on it is made by someone who is already making their own brand - classic rebadging.

It doesn't make sense for anyone to "bail out" a company that can't manage their business. Just throwing money at them won't "save" them (which applies to all these government bail outs as well). They should have made a go of it when they were employee-owned - they gave up on that in 2006. When a company is bought by someone with capital that doesn't know the business, that company is doomed. I heard something about Crane and Mikronite coming together, but I didn't realize Mikronite was the buyer; I didn't know anything about them and didn't bother researching them. Now it would appear Mikronite didn't know the business and ran Crane further into the ground.

I haven't seen anything in this thread that would explain why they closed down. Everything described so far are symptoms. You can be sure they were spending more on operating costs than they were bringing in, and when your debts exceed your assets, you're going to get shut down. Doesn't matter how good your product is if you aren't competitive.

Trying to expand your product line beyond your expertise is one way a company gets into trouble. I never understood why they got into the ignition business - there were already plenty of good products out there, they weren't offering anything different or better.

Holley got overzealous buying companies in the last few years and had to sell off some of their side businesses. They appear to have stabilized, but they are in no position to pick up Crane. Even still they have things that they aren't good at.

I haven't had any problems with Edelbrock. I picked up an older unused nitrous system of theirs last summer and talked to their customer service about converting it to E85. They couldn't answer my question directly, but were able to give me enough information for me to figure it out. They also would seem to be overextended from a product offering standpoint, but I would expect them to stick with it and just thin out what they make. They started in the head and intake lines, what shock absorbers have to do with that, I never figured out. But, that's their business.

1986Z28OWNER

iTrader: (1)

I dont see why a retailer should push a product, when the supplier refuses to do anything about there wait times. unless you have actually delt with them you probaly dont know. a retailer shouldnt have to suffer for another companys **** ups, and if they tried, major changes would have to be made, most likely bringing both companys down. If a company thats been around for 56 years cannot support itself because of the way it does business, why should another company loose money by bailing them out?

L0tuS

iTrader: (3)

the people from crane come in to my job all the time cause its like 5 mins away. i talk to them all the time and no one has said anything about it. that sucks.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

Summit Racing is more than just a retailer, they make they're very own products. Picking up Crane Cams isn't necessarily a bail out for Crane, it's an opportunity for an already established presence to not only keep the name alive, but to capitalize on their credibility, as well as maintaining quality valvetrain parts available to the people. I never said that the people who made poor business decisions on behalf of Crane should get a second chance, they got what they deserve, and maybe an entirely different entity could do something better w/them....

iroc a 86 berli

i was under the impression that summits house brand of parts are outsourced/re named products. anyways thats niether hear nor there.

if summit picked up crane, re opened there facilitly and re employed cranes manufacturing staff, not olny would alot of people get there jobs back they also would prolly be alright with summit managing them instead of the fuktards that took over. as for now, its just sad too hear of them going under.

bickering about it on this f body forum wont help. and as much as it suck, its the fukin way she goes.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Would be interesting to know if it's even true, then. Like I said, I've only seen one source referenced.

Phoenix8936

Well one of Crane's guys left a few months back and went to a custom cam grinder.. I have used this guy before and trust me he know what he is doing.. check it out www.camcraftcams.com

89_RS

I'd highly doubt that Summit makes any of its own parts. I'd be willing to lay bets that its made by someone els and they put the Summit name on it.

Secondly, when you buy a company, you become responsible financially for that company and you inherit all of that company's assets AND liabilities. In such cash strapped times when not many people are buying a lot, what makes you think that either Summit or Jegs are sitting on enough cash to buy Crane? Call me crazy, but a company that makes a significant portion of its income by selling stuff buying another company during a low selling period in the market is bad business no matter which way you cut it. You do realize that Summit and Jegs both have bills to pay as well, right?

And now for an example:

Lets say you own an auto shop and go out of business. You want to sell it for $1000 to anyone who will buy in this economy (small numbers for easy math). I, as a seller of auto parts wanting to expand my portfolio and gain some good PR, come along and agree to buy your business for $1000 because I have $5000 in the bank. After buying your business, I'm left with $4000 in the bank. When you sell your business to me, I acquire control of your financial records and begin to look at your balance sheets, statement of cashflow, assets, liabilities, and owners equity (i.e. stock and such). I very quickly find out that you have $6000 in current liabilities due at the end of the month. I only have $4000 in cash, $4000 in current liabilities of my own due at the end of the month, and a revenue of $5000 each month. I cover my current liabilities and am left with $1000 to cover your $6000 in current liabilities. I go and borrow $5000 to make up the difference and am charged 15% interest for the loan (10% for the loan plus prime rate). My net income at the end of the month is -$5000. Next month my income goes down to $4000 and stays there for the next 6 months all the while I am paying interest on that loan. Therefore, in order for me to cover my expenses, I must continue to borrow more and more money each time just to break even. 5 months after buying your business, I go out of business due to having borrowed far more money than I can pay back.

That right there is the reason a bailout of a failing company is a bad idea. This economy is Darwinistic in that only the strong companies survive. Your company hast to constantly compete and grow in order to survive. The day your company stops doing that, your company begins to decline. You have to have everything done right or else you fail. Sounds like Crane let the wrong people buy the company and didn't take care of its customers. I have zero problem with them having gone out of business. All that means is that the company that replaces them will have to be more competitive to carve out a name for itself against guys like COMP Cams.

coop427

Summit does NOT manufacture any of the products with the summit name on them. They are all out sourced and made buy other companies and summit puts thier name on them and sells them as a summit product. This is actually a very common practice in the manufacturing/ retail business.

02 WS6 TA

iTrader: (1)

Same here.

02 WS6 TA

iTrader: (1)

Don't hold your breath on that, you'd be astounded how many brands Edelbrock owns.

02 WS6 TA

iTrader: (1)

They actually do not. Summit, with their immense buying power, has many "Summit" branded products that are made by leading manufacturers in a "plain white box" form. The house brands are good quality from Summit or Jegs, etc. But restassurred, it's simply mass buyout re-labeling. EG, Napa, Carquest house brands, yadda yadda.

GTA50

The very sad part about this whole debate is that it mirrors just what the US and Canadian governments are being asked to do with the North American financial and auto manufacturing industries!!

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

We may never know exactly what caused their downfall (I'm still waiting for confirmation that they have shut the doors).

Could have been poor business decisions, poor customer support, excessive labor costs, material or quality control costs that priced them out of the market, embezzlement, internal theft, high taxes, low productivity - maybe a combination of some or all of those.

I am confident that bail-outs are not the answer - for Crane Cams, or for financial institutions or car manufacturers or airlines or railroads or. . .

BC GTA

First, I feel sorry for the workers at Crane Cams who are loosing their jobs; this is one of the worst things that can happen to a person. Also, a long time manufacturer of high performance products has closed its doors. We do not know what caused this company to take this action. It remains to be seen what will happen to it. There are several possible scenarios.

Unfortunately, North America and the world are in the worst economic recession since the early 1980’s or even the 1930’s. Crane Cams is just a smaller version of what is going on in the economy. Industries are sorting themselves out as they do from time to time especially during these recessionary periods.

The federal governments in North America and in other nations are bailing out companies they feel they can not allow to collapse and cause this economic situation to become as bad as the 1930’s. In previous recessions governments just let the free market sort itself out, in this one the governments are more interventionist. This is a philosophical approach to economics. It remains to be seen which approach is right for this recession. It is not the first time auto manufactures have been bailed out by governments or left to go under and die.

Summit Racing, Jegs and other retailers of high performance parts will step in to buy Crane Cams or any other manufacture of high performance parts if it is in their interest to do so. These retailers may also be on the verge of what happened to Crane Cams. Crane Cams and Summit Racing, Jegs etc. both benefited from each other for many years and are under no moral obligation to support the other. Crane Cams made a product and Summit Racing sold it and both made money for many years and that is good. What if Jegs went bankrupt would Holley be under an obligation to buy out Jegs. I do not think so.

Whether Summit Racing manufactures some high performance parts, buys others manufacturer’s parts and puts the Summit Racing name on it is irrelevant to this discussion. Summit Racing does this because it sees an opportunity to make money. Summit Racing will acquire Crane Cams if they feel they can make money doing so.

3rdGenWillie

iTrader: (1)

It's true. Crane is closed, indefinately. Some unknowns in senior management are trying to borrow money to get things rolling again. Sadly enough 1 man tricked "Mr. Harvey Crane" out of the business he started. Mr Ezzell basically stole the company and it's profits 30yrs ago. The company was flush with cash in the late 70's. Now all gone. Just another example of corporate greed in America. As far as only the rich buying cams and valetrain components I have helped with at least 4 cam swaps in 8 months, none of which were Crane. In fact 3 were comp, 1 lunati. People doing cams are just like the rest of us, saving for months to buy everything needed. Crane's customer service and availabilty have been sabotaged by lackies of Ezzell, by the way he is known as MR. Weasel.

jg04222

Sucks to hear their employees are out of work. However, I too have been the victim of Crane's (and Edelbrock's for that matter) poor customer service...seems like I always wind up talking to the person that has no knowledge of the products their company sells. I'm sure someone will eventually resurrect the name Crane cams.

1989GTATransAm

iTrader: (3)

I saw on another forum that Crane expects to open its doors within 30 days. We shall see. Also they have not quite closed completely as they have 25 people working on military contracts.

RWB____s

Well If they do close permanently, maybe another cam manufacturer will buy out Crane's inventory and grinds (Comp, maybe?). I know that years ago Crane purchased Cam Dynamics. Which supported alot of NHRA Stock/Super Stock classes.

Fast355

iTrader: (2)

What you guys FAIL TO REALIZE is the fact that CRANE makes pretty much ALL the cam cores for EVERYONE... Comp Cams and MANY OE manufacturers INCLUDED. Even GMPP offered cams made by Crane. Blue Racer cams are part of the crane lineup. So one of the other cam companies is going to have to pick up atleast part if not all of crane in order to keep their supply of cam cores unhalted.

1989GTATransAm

iTrader: (3)

Regarding cam cores I saw this on another forum.

cstraub wrote:
CamKing wrote:
trmnatr wrote:

"The big question is, where will Comp be getting 8620 cores from is Crane doesnt re-open

Same place they get thier induction hardened cores.
EPC will make them 8620 cores if they want. They've made runs of them before.


Mike,
You think Quigg will ramp up and produce in quantity to fill the pipeline?

Between EPC, CMC, and all the smaller core companies, I don't see any problem."

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Different, perhaps, but this is not worse than other situations we've gone through.

It doesn't remain to be seen. There is no doubt whatsoever that government intervention has always prolonged recessions. Reagan's presidency started out with a recession and included a stock market "crash". Yet the Clintons called the 80's "the decade of greed". Had Reagan intervened as Roosevelt did and we are doing today, there is no way such a claim (as silly as it really was) would have been even considered. The stock market crash of 1929 didn't cause the Great Depression, government action did.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the aftermarket cam industry. There is always some interdependency, so there is bound to be effects on the other suppliers. And, perhaps, opportunities.

ChainHartMachin

Too bad about Crane. It's important to have competition in the high performance market and Crane offered several products that Comp does not (the radii-arc rocker arms and the shaft rockers that use hydrodynamic bearings instead of needle bearings in the fulcrum come to mind). Still I can think of at least a couple things that could not have been good for business at crane. Every time I looked at cams in the summit website, crane hydraulic rollers were significantly more expensive than Comp plus the availability often had a back-order date. Their custom cams were considerably more expensive than a custom cam from comp (comp's custom prices are the same as for off the shelf)

I read an editorial in my local paper describing that a similar recession situation was about to occur at the beginning of the 1920's, but the president (Harding I think) at the time responded by relaxing regulations on commerce instead of massive government spending programs. The economy rebounded and we had the "Roaring Twenties". FDR started the "New Deal" after the market crashed and 8 years later the treasury secretary wrote something to the effect of "we are still in this depression 8 years later and we have a huge national debt to show for it".

Why does our elected leadership on both sides of the aisle think that the fix for a problem caused by excess spending (of money that many people didn't really have) is more spending? It's like saying the fix for a rod knock is to keep driving the car!