Crane Pumps & Systems is honored to share the story of one Crane employee, Art Morris, who has retired from the pump industry after 57 years.  Art has shown exemplary service to his country and to Crane.  Art has been of tremendous value to Crane Pumps & Systems and is truly deserving of recognition.

“What always amazes me about Art is the number of people he has touched throughout his career.  When you go out in the field and talk to customers and ask them people they know from the office, his name comes up almost every time!” complimented Mark Kowalak, Engineering Manager.

Art Morris attended Ohio State University for 3 years majoring in engineering before he enlisted in Aviation Cadet Training (now known as the Air Force Academy).  After graduating with his 2nd Lieutenant’s commission and Navigator’s rating he gained his Aircraft Performance Engineer’s rating.  He was based out of Ft. Worth, TX and flew B-36 bombers with H-bombs as a deterrent to Russia during the Cold War.  In 1959, he was discharged with a Captain’s rank.

He still remembers vividly his time as a military pilot, “we all had to know how to fly and land the aircraft in an emergency.  We started out with high altitude bombing, but then our strategy had to change when the USSR got better missiles,” recalls Morris.

After being discharged, his military background enabled him to be accepted for training for Manager of Quality Control for Barnes Manufacturing.  Art continued his education in business management in evening courses at Ashland University and also took the Dale Carnegie Course in Human Relations.  In Art’s time as Manager of Quality Control his team was able to implement new approaches that reduced scrap and warranty costs dramatically. Morris described another key advantage of the new approach as helping inspectors and direct laborers become friend and team instead of adversaries.  Barnes soon became known as a quality leader in the industry.

Throughout Art’s career he has broaden his experience and expanded his learning in several key areas of the business.  He held roles responsible for U.S. Government contract coordination, cost improvement program initiatives, analyzing acquisitions and corporate paperwork as the President’s assistant, managing procurement challenges as the Director of Procurement, running the plant as Plant manager, and covering the southeast region as a sales manager.  He was even fortunate enough to be in an all-day meeting with the former President, Gerald Ford and his secret service agents!

For the last 23 years Morris has been a Pressure Sewer Specialist, bidding and coordinating major Pressure Sewer projects.  The first major Pressure Sewer project Morris won was in 1992 for Peters Township in Pennsylvania and was for $1.7 million and included over 1,000 stations.

He describes his work in pressure sewer as, “These are exciting adventures competing head to head with competitors, winning a major project is better than your favorite team winning the Super Bowl because we are the player instead of just the spectators.”

When asked about the history of Barnes and Crane Pumps & Systems Morris elegantly advises, “Always look forward, never backwards.”

“There have been very few dull moments in the past 56 years and I am very appreciative of the opportunity to work for Barnes and Crane for the past 56 years,” said Morris.

About Crane

Crane Co. is a diversified global manufacturer of engineered industrial products traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CR). One of its segments, Crane Fluid Handling, provides highly engineered products for fluid handling applications worldwide.

Crane Pumps & Systems designs and manufactures pumps, accessories and systems to provide solutions for municipal water and wastewater, residential building, commercial building, industrial and military pump market segments.  Our trusted brands include Barnes®, Burks®, Crown®, Deming®, Prosser® and Weinman®.

www.cranepumps.com