Crown Equipment Corporation has opened a factory-owned branch in Grand Prairie, TX, to serve the Dallas-Fort Worth market. Crown this month bought Shannon Corporation, the former Crown Grand Prairie dealer. Mark Heitkamp has relocated from Crown's Pittsburgh, PA, branch to head the new branch. The newest Crown branch will handle materials handling equipment sales, rentals, parts and service for Crown forklift products. The branch would also sell general warehouse and materials handling equipment like racks, shelving, and dock equipment, the company said. Crown has appointed Andre Lauber and Bruce Salsbury as sales managers, Andy Faust as parts manager and Paul Wright as service manager at Grand Prairie.