“Cranes” is a multifaceted safety business all wrapped up in their own proprietary Safety Management Portal that complements each of their three divisions.
Interview with Jay Sturm, President at Sturm Corp. Cranes101 & Cranes Aerial Truck Service.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
Jay Sturm: Cranes101 is our live training division. Our training programs primarily include operator training for equipment that lifts including cranes, fork trucks, bucket trucks, MEWPs and the like. We are a destination for crane operator licensing.
Cranes101online is our online school offering many of the same classes that we offer live.
Cranes Aerial Truck Service is our oldest division. We inspect pretty much anything that lifts.
E.E: What’s the news about new products?
J.S: From the inspection division, we now offer hotstick testing. Our live classes now include inspector certifications for cranes, bucket trucks, and hi rail gear. Our online division now includes training for crane operator licensing.
The most exciting product we offer is the daily inspections service in our Portal. Our customers can log their daily equipment inspections, which are saved automatically and securely in our cloud-based server. Our customers now have the same opportunity to perform their inspections in the same professional manner that our inspectors do. And it’s free.
E.E: What are the ranges of products?
J.S: We have worked on 4 continents to date, but most of our customer base is in the United States and Canada.
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
J.S: The construction market is strong. As the nature of our very existence is evolving, we’re seeing strip malls disappear into the ground and apartment buildings on the rise. Both create construction work, and where there’s construction work, there’s a need for safety. That’s where we come in.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
J.S: Tightening safety demands help create the increasing need for our training divisions. The uptick in safety measures in the most progressive companies is providing the need for better inspections.
E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?
J.S: By far it’s our safety management portal. Our customers can log into the portal and order training or inspections.
We’re over $500,000 into the production of this portal, and now maintain it with our in-house engineers. The ability to update the portal in-house coupled with the input of our founder gives us a unique product that our customers can count on for ease of use and the reliability of the most useful safety features available.
E.E: What estimations do you have for the rest of 2022?
J.S: The training bounce back from the COVID years is complete, so we’re looking at a great year overall.