Craig Manufacturing – A History

1946: HARTLAND, NB | THE BEGINNING Woodford “Woodie” Craig opens a service station and machine repair shop that sells cars and farm machinery. A trained machinist, Woodie also made parts and bushings.

1952 The first Craig wing is built and installed on a wheel loader.

1955 Craig Manufacturing builds its first loader buckets for Frank G. Hough.

1960 Creativity and a willingness to take on any challenge has always been a hallmark of the Craig Manufacturing spirit. A ferry build in 1960 is just one example of the many different manufacturing challenges Craig Manufacturing has been willing to take on.

1976 Woodie’s son, John, joins the company on its 30th anniversary.

1980 The 301 Series All Hydraulic Wing Assembly for wheel loaders is introduced.

1985: HARTLAND, NB | THE JOHN ERA John becomes the company president.

1986 The Craig product line is expanded with the production of the first Craig built excavator bucket.

1987 The name of the company is changed from Craig Machine Shop to Craig Manufacturing Ltd. to better reflect the direction the company is going.

1988 12,000 sq. ft. is added to the fabrication and welding area. A new 500-ton press brake, plate shear, and plate roll are installed as well as additional weld stations.

1988 Always taking charge to be at the forefront of technology in the industry, Craig Manufacturing purchases the first computers and software for managing sales and inventory.

1990 Continuing with technological advancements, the use of hand drawn product drafting in engineering is upgraded to use the latest in 2D CAD software.

1991 A fire destroys the paint shop on New Years Eve. A temporary paint facility is operational within a week.

1992 A 4,000 sq. ft. paint shop is built featuring a down draft paint booth and wash bay.

1995 Syspro is implemented as the Craig Enterprise Resource Planning system of choice.

1996 Main office area and shipping and receiving are expanded, doubling the current capacity.

1997 Attachment delivery service of Craig products by Craig owned and operated trucks is ceased. Craig now relies on common carriers instead.

1998 New plasma shape burning equipment is installed.

2001 In an effort is improve production flow the machine shop department is relocated to be closer to the cutting department. These two departments combined are now known as the fabrication department.

2002 Always striving to be a leader in manufacturing technology, a Microbotics division is added to the Craig Manufacturing shop that features advanced CNC machining capabilities.

2003 Production is stopped on the tag trailer offering to allow the company to put more focus on the manufacturing of heavy equipment attachments.

2005: HARTLAND, NB | THE TRAGEDY The 43,000 sq. ft. facility in Hartland, New Brunswick is destroyed in an electrical fire. Nothing was salvaged. Only 1 day after the fire, the staff were back at work in temporary offices planning for the future of the company.

2006: HARTLAND, NB | A NEW HOPE After 229 days of working at temporary locations, staff move into a new 71,000 sq. ft. facility in the Hartland Industrial Park. This facility features the latest equipment and advanced lean manufacturing processes.

2006 John’s son, Ben, joins the company.

2008 4 dedicated outside sales representatives are added to the team serving Canada and the Eastern U.S.A.

2008: CAMBRIDGE, NB | CENTRAL BRANCH Craig Manufacturing opens a new branch in Cambridge, Ontario to better serve Central Canada and the U.S.A. This facility offers service, installations, and custom manufacturing.

2012 Steel cutting tables are replaced with brand new tables that are more efficient and have a better cut quality. The new tables offer better air quality in the shop and better software to further improve shop efficiency.

2013 New VTC machining equipment is installed at the Hartland facility to accommodate company growth.

2013: RED DEER, AB | WESTERN BRANCH Craig Manufacturing opens a new branch in Red Deer, Alberta to better serve Western Canada and the U.S.A.

2014 A tarp building is added to the Hartland facility to serve as storage for some attachment stock and various components. A key feature is an improved concrete floor that can handle the full weight of each storage rack.

2014: HARTLAND, NB | THE BEN ERA Ben becomes the company president.

2015 Services trucks are purchased for both the Cambridge and Red Deer facilities. The trucks are fully equipped for on-site attachment service and installation.

2015 Work begins on a 25,000 sq. ft. expansion at the Hartland, New Brunswick facility. This new expansion will feature 30-ton attachment manufacturing capabilities.

2016 The grand opening of the new expansion takes place. Craig Manufacturing celebrates 70 years of business.

2017: BLACKFALDS, AB | WESTERN RELOCATION Construction begins on a new location in Blackfalds, Alberta. This 14,200 sq. ft. facility will be open in 2018 and will replace our current location in Red Deer, Alberta.

2017 A secondary building in Hartland is purchased to utilize for the MSVS Load Bed Project. Referred to as “Plant 15”, the facility is next door to the main Hartland plant and is 9,800 sq. ft.

2018 Epicor is chosen and implemented as the new ERP software, and Syspro is retired.

2018 Construction is completed on the Blackfalds, Alberta location. The Red Deer team made the move from Red Deer to Blackfalds in early February.

2018: HARTLAND, NB | CONTRACT MANUFACTURING Craig Manufacturing officially announces it’s $25,000,000 contract partnership with Mack Defense and Marshall to produce 845 loadbeds under Canada’s Medium Support Vehicle System (MSVS) – Standard Military Pattern (SMP) project.

2018: LAWRENCEBURG, TN | FIRST USA LOCATION John and Ben Craig, assisted by Ben’s children – Anna and Nathan (the fifth generation Craig to be in the family business), proudly broke ground on a new U.S. Headquarters and Manufacturing facility in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee on October 5th.

2019 Even with a new location currently under construction, Craig Manufacturing is still dedicated to keep their existing facilities up-to-date. A new boring mill is purchased and installed at the Hartland, New Brunswick location to improve production capacity for line boring pin-on attachments.

2019 Craig Manufacturing officially opens the doors on its first U.S. location in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee in early June.

2020 New Mazak machines loaded into the shop to increase capacity!

2020 Our first online order through our new Craig Portal!

2022 Craig purchases a Machitech Plasma/Oxy Fuel system for the Tennessee production facility, completing their suite of tools for cutting, bending, rolling, and machining of steel plates.

2024 Craig adds Lincoln ‘Cobot’ Robotic systems to Hartland and Tennessee production facilities. These robots work alongside humans to enhance productivity, efficiency, and weld accuracy.