Crown Equipment Corp's branch in Duluth, Georgia

Crown Equipment Corp has opened a larger branch location in Duluth, serving the northern Georgia market including the Atlanta metropolitan area.

"We've seen steady growth since Crown first opened a branch there in 1984," says Jim Ellis, Crown senior vice president. Duluth is about 25 mi. (40 km) north-east of Atlanta.

The new company site of 120,000 sqft. (10,972 sqm) replaces a Norcross, Georgia facility of 47,000 sqft. (4,279 sqm) that Crown occupied initially in 1990. About eight miles (13 km) separate the Duluth and Norcross locations.

A state-of-the-art Demonstrated Performance-brand service training centre of 7,200 sqft. (669 sqm) in Duluth supplants the Norcross training space of about 3,000 sqft. (279 sqm).

The new centre can provide expanded offerings for service technicians and forklift operators as well as additional capacity for customer service. Classrooms have the latest audio and visual equipment to enhance learning for operators, trainers and training leaders.

"There are no immediate changes in personnel," says Mike Virga, Crown's south-east general manager. "We expect to educate more than 300 Crown employees, customer technicians and independent Crown dealer technicians at the Atlanta facility each year," Virga says. "Training sessions are conducted approximately 46 weeks per year and provide technicians with near-constant access to the latest tools and equipment to further develop their skills."

Crown opened its first branch in the Atlanta market in 1984, and the operations have won four of Crown's Summit Awards and two Ascent Awards. The Duluth branch began operations on 12 March.

Elsewhere in the Georgia market, a Crown company branch in Tifton in the south-central region covers 49 counties, and independent Jacksonville, Florida-based dealership Lift Power Inc. in the south-east region covers 26 counties. In certain markets, Lift Power also represents the Doosan, Komatsu and Bendi forklift brands.

New Bremen, Ohio-based Crown designs, engineers and manufactures materials handling equipment from small hand pallet trucks to high-lifting turret trucks.