U.S. State Focus – Overhead crane companies in Texas

Operating out of Fort Worth, Ace World Companies has been supplying overhead cranes, electric wire rope hoists, and end trucks to a range of industries since 1987.

Last year marked 35 years since the company was established by Ace Ghanemi, who initially operated the business out of his garage. Today, Ace World Companies has three locations: Fort Worth, Texas, is HQ and the manufacturing facility for the aforementioned crane components (wire rope hoists and end trucks) and ov erhead cranes, as well as well as parts. (A r elatively new crane girder building facility is located in Clinton, Tennessee, while Pewaukee, Wisconsin, is home to the Tronics division, which handles electrical engineering/automation and builds controls and control panels.)

The company’s Advantage division supplies wire rope hoists and end trucks, such as the monorail wire rope hoist for a monobox crane. The 5t wire rope hoist adjusts to a beam flange width of 5.9–11.8in and a beam size of 22.18in. The 10t adjusts to a beam flange width of 7.87–15.7in and a beam size of 22.18in.

When asked earlier this year what one piece of advice he would give a customer, Kevin Beavers, executive vice president at Ace World Companies, said: “Know your needs and be educated on the product. Know the importance of finding the right crane or hoist for y our application. This piece of equipment can have a significant impact on your production.”

And when asked for his thoughts on the most important considerations for a customer when choosing a supplier, he replied: “Choose a supplier with quality products that it stands behind – that offers service and support.”

In other news, the company was seen e xhibiting at the 2023 AIST (Association for Iron and Steel Technology) Steel show, and it recently congratulated and thanked employee Fernando Cavazos, who works as a gearbox assembler, on his 25th work anniversary at the business.

Royse City

OMi Crane Systems’ headquarters are in Royse City, but it also has offices in Dall as and Houston, as well as in Birmingham, AL and a manufacturing plant, again in Dallas.

The company describes itself as a “true crane manufacturer, not just an assembler of others’ components”. The services it provides includes breakdowns and repairs, with technicians available 24 hours a day, preventative maintenance and inspections, modernisations, feasibility studies – OMi can evaluate equipment and determine if and how your crane productivity and reliability can be increased through capacity upgrades, increased speeds and/or retrofit of state-of-the-art mechanical and electrical componentry – and overhead crane operator training.

OMi is a distributor for Ohio-based overhead material handling equipment business R&M Materials Handling, and attended the 2023 Master Distributor Meeting in Naples, Florida, wher e it received the 2022 Regional Crane Builder of the Year award for the Southwest Region. This marked the ninth consecutive year that OMi had received this award.

Richardson

The Crosby Group’s global headquarters are in Richardson, although it also has facilities in both Longview and Arlington. It manufactures and distributes products and services used to make lifting and load securement safer and more efficient, and its brands include Cr osby, Gunnebo Industries, Crosby Straightpoint, Crosby BlokCam, Acco, McKissick, Crosby Feubo, Crosby Airpes, Trawlex, Lebus, Speedbinders and CrosbyIP.

Earlier this year, the company effectively merged with Kito. (You can read more about the deal in the Business Update pages.)

Houston

Konecranes has a heavy presence in Texas with several sites dotted around the state offering routine inspections, planned and emergency repairs, updates to old equipment, servicing for hoists and jib cranes, preventative maintenance programmes and spare parts.

It also manufactures industrial crane parts and equipment in Houston. The Konecranes Houston plant is said to build more than 150 specialised overhead cranes per year, with a team of engineers, welders, assemblers and project managers assembling the cranes.

Another big name in the region is GH Cranes & Components, with components and spares inventory in Dallas and crane manufacturing capabilities and servicing in both Dallas and Houston.

We’ll end with a Houston company that featured in the original iteration of Overhead Crane and Hoist over ten years ago, and that’s ProservCrane Group. Founded in 1987, the company says it designs, builds, installs, refurbishes and services cranes and performs OSHA-compliant inspections. It manufacturers bridge cranes, jib cranes, hoists, runways, transfer cars and more, and carries out maintenance or testing.