Aboutus

In 1984 Larry Bucklin and Tom Evans purchased the asset of Crane Manufactur-
ing, which had been producing seating and soft trim for the Marine Industry
since 1972, and formed Crane Interiors. Crane Manufacturing was financial
distressed, unprofitable, losing customers, and any future. Its business model of
serving the low-cost, entry-level boat producers had it competing unsuccessfully
with larger, better established suppliers and with "in-house" upholstery shops
with little understanding of their true total costs.

The company changed its mission to differentiate it from its competition. It
focused on providing the best service, delivery, and quality to the premiere
marine manufacturers. In 1986 they fired their Sales Reps and Pat Calo joined
them as partner responsible for direct sales. In 1989 the company closed its
dilapidated Nashville factory and moved to a new facility in Woodbury, TN.

The new direction quadrupled revenues in a little over ten years even with the
industry disaster of 1989. In the next ten year the company doubled revenues.
The new sales also brought the company back to profitability.

The last fifteen years have also seen a significant change in the Marine Industry.
Small, marginally financed boat manufacturers with a history of high business
failure rates were replaced by better managed, better financed organizations.
They leveled out the seasonal demand cycles making easier for suppliers to serve
them profitably, to retain a trained, high caliber workforce, and to provide
higher quality products.

In 1988 the owners of Crane Interiors purchased Browns Manufacturing
Company a successful tier 1 supplier of soft trim to heavy truck market and
Peterbilt Motors in particular. With its expertise in the Automotive Industry,
which is technically more advanced than Marine Industry, Browns brought major
synergies to Crane in the way of quality control methods of QS9000, engineered
products, and advanced accounting and information systems.