The Crane Manufacturers’ Association of America has changed its byelaws to admit new classes of members.

Up until the group’s spring meeting in mid-April, it only admitted companies that marketed and made products in the USA. Now, it is welcoming companies that manufacture in Canada and Mexico, which are in the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). “At some point I am sure that we will entertain broader membership, but that’s it for now,” said managing director Hal Vandiver.

The trade association has also expanded the types of members who can join the association to ordinary crane builders and controls manufacturers. Existing members, original equipment manufacturers that make complete cranes, have become executive members that serve on a board of directors and have exclusive voting rights.

Components manufacturers would include hoist manufacturers, the group targeted by sister association the HMI, the Hoist Manufacturers’ Association. “The intent is to provide better coordination to engineering relationships,” Vandiver said.

But the new members would still have access to engineering discussions, market forecasts and other programming that members currently receive, Vandiver said.

He said that membership would be opened up toward the end of the year, pending the resolution of some strategic issues. Companies interested in joining would still be inspected, be in good standing, and well-established.

The organisation has also firmed up membership to its engineering committee – only qualified engineers will be admitted.

Vandiver said the changes were made to keep up with the industry. “Cranes manufactured 50 or 100 years ago were designed, built and shipped to their final destination. Today there is a combination of distributed crane manufacturing arrangements throughout the country. Other companies take drawings from manufacturers and fabricate them to the manufacturers’ spec. The way that the product moves in the US is different than it was even 20-30 years ago, he said.

He said that the CMAA’s sister trade associations, the Hoist Manufacturers Institute and the Monorail Manufacturers’ Institute, had undertaken similar reviews over the past six months.