A Lampson tradition

Visitors to the Tri-City area of Washington state in late July stood a good chance of witnessing a long line-up of blue crane booms lifting hydroplanes into the Columbia River. The annual event is the Water Follies Atomic Cup, and the booms belong to Lampson International. Donating cranes to this community event has been a tradition for over 40 years for Lampson and 2006 was no exception.

Lampson International maintains one of the world's largest fleets of lattice boom construction cranes. This fleet consists pre dominantly of Manitowoc cranes ranging from the 2900 truck crane to the 18000 crawler complete with luffing jib and MAX-ER attachments. Interspersed are 3900, 4000, 4100, 999, 4600 and 2250 crawler cranes, many of which can be out fitted with ringer and tower attachments for specialized lifts.

The Lampson Transi-Lift crane is manufactured by Lampson in models ranging from 350 to 2,600 ton capacities. Hydraulic self-propelled and towable platform trailers and crawler transporters are also part of the fleet.

When Neil F. Lampson started his small crane company in 1946, in rural south western Washington, he may have never envisioned his company would grow into one of the world leaders. But, his son and company president, Bill Lampson, says, he laid a solid foundation of business dealing that persists today.

“When my Dad gave his word it was written in stone, and our clients valued the honesty and integrity with which he spoke,”explains Bill Lampson. “We've come a long way since my dad did business with a simple hand shake, but one thing is for certain, we'll continue to build from that foundation he laid so many years ago,” Lampson adds.

Part of building on that foundation is Lampson's commitment to the CCO crane operator certification program. “NCCCO is the trend of the industry,” says Bill Lampson and CCO certification is now clearly part of this company's strong commitment to corporate safety and health. “Crane safety is critical for us since we are currently operating in 35 different states.”

As testimony to the firm's dedication to safe crane operator practices, Lampson's Pacific North west headquarters is now home to one of the newest mobile and overhead crane sites for exams administered by the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO). In addition, the company is planning on hosting its first CCO overhead and practical examiner workshop slater this year, establishing Lampson with its own accredited NCCCO practical examiners.

Lampson has conducted business in Canada for over 30 years and Australia for 15 years, as well as 35 other countries. “The safety and health of our workforce is very important to us, some of which are second and third family generation employees,” Lampson says. The privately owned company has offices across the US, in Canada and Australia.

Bill Lampson speaks passionately about the company's involvement in the community. The YMCA, Second Harvest Food Bank, American Red Cross, American Cancer Society, March of Dimes, the United Way-the list of the organizations the company supports is extensive by any standard. But it's all just part, Lampson says, sof his philosophy of “giving back” to an area that has been home to Lampson -company and family - for more than 100 years.