This is How Crenlo Gets Engineered Cabs Right
If you work inside the cab of agriculture, construction or off-highway equipment, chances are you’ve been thankful for Crenlo Engineered Cabs at least once before. The company is the premier cab manufacturer in North America, with three locations in the United States as well as one in Brazil.
At Ellison Technologies, our office in Minneapolis-St. Paul has developed a close working relationship with Crenlo over the past few years. We caught up with Jason Pawelk, Sales Engineer at Ellison, and Jerry Grismer, Senior Manufacturing Engineer at Crenlo Engineered Cabs, to get the full story.
For Crenlo, Ellison was the Best Choice
Like many strong relationships we form at Ellison, the one Pawelk has built with Crenlo would not have happened without patience and persistence. “I started calling on them back in 2015 when they were still called Worthington Industries,” he said. “They didn’t have a need for new equipment at that time, but I kept introducing them to various DN Solutions offerings.”
When 2020 arrived, some of Crenlo’s existing equipment was officially nearing retirement. Grismer knew it was time to bring in some new machines. “We looked at Haas and DN for that 2020 purchase, and DN paired with Jason’s and Ellison’s support seemed like the best choice for us.”
The rest is history. A DNM 750L arrived in January 2021, and a DNM 750 arrived in 2022. The two machines are very similar and productive vertical machining centers. The L version simply has a longer X-axis travel of 84” compared to 60”.
The Crenlo Difference
A brief exploration of the Crenlo website will show you how serious the company is about keeping machine operators safe and comfortable.
“An operator cab is a very heavily engineered product. It’s the operator environment — where the operator lives during their day at work, the air they breathe, what they see, the control system. It’s the transition from the operator’s hands and eyes to the earth, to the field, to the grain.”
That passion for making a better cab spills over into the daily work. When we asked Grismer what makes the company special, he talked about the people and the mindset. “A lot of it is the work ethic we have, especially locally. We have great local and global leadership, which drives our direction toward newer technology and automation.
Pawelk concurred. “It’s the people for sure. Crenlo is just the name of a company. It’s the people inside that make it great. It’s fun for me simply to walk in their front door and catch up with everybody. They’ve built a special place.”
“We also are willing to take on a lot of the more complex stuff other places don’t want,” Grismer said. “We don’t just weld or fabricate here; we do the whole process. Fabrication, machining, welding, painting, assembly. A whole lot of the work is done in-house at Crenlo.”
The Ellison Difference
On the machine side of things, Grismer spoke highly of his DNM machines, praising their repeatability and tolerances they let Crenlo hold. “Productivity went up by 30% when the DN machines were installed,” he said. “Lots more uptime, productivity, and reliability."
“On top of that, the Ellison support is incredible. We don’t wait for days or even hours anymore. It’s 20 - 30 minutes and we have an answer.”
Looking Ahead at Crenlo
Grismer has a clear picture for what the future will hold at his facility in Watertown, South Dakota. He thinks they have the perfect machines for the work they do, but should the need for more equipment arise, they have full confidence in Ellison to deliver.
One thing is certain: he and his team will continue to get immense satisfaction from the work they do. “You can go out a few miles and see some of our products in the wild. In most fab shops, you’re making a bunch of parts and you don’t really get to see the end product. But our guys see the exact cabs they made. There’s lots of satisfaction in seeing your name on something you built.”
If you’ve been short on job satisfaction and frustrated with your existing machine performance and service response, there’s a cure that’s readily available: talk to Ellison. We’re ready to help you Make More in all kinds of ways.
