Gold standard
25 April 2008
The amount of significance attached to the SC&RA Golden Achievement Award means the Association does not issue it every year. It was last presented in 2004. This year's recipient is Dan Bumby of E.C.C.-Lift Systems based in Colorado, US.
“Dan Bumby is very well respected in the industry – and not just in North America,” said Jerry Thomsen, SC&RA chairman. “He has travelled the world and been an industry and SC&RA ambassador, diplomat and a true gentleman in every sense of the word. He has been an active and thoughtful member and has given freely of his time. He has also been a strong financial contributor to the Association and the SC&R Foundation. He is knowledgeable and resourceful, and he continues to be an asset to our organization.”
From the beginning of his industry career in the early 1960s with Hoffman Rigging & Crane Service (now Hoffman Equipment International) in New Jersey, Bumby understood SC&RA's significance. Guiding him were Harry Hoffman, Jr. and William Hoffman, Jr., both of whom were SC&RA chairman.
Bumby says he remains close to the Hoffmans. “Over the years, I've burned very, very few bridges behind me,” he notes. “I've maintained a very good relationship with all the people I originally worked with. It's been very helpful to me.”
At Hoffman he also began a career-long interest and expertise in the international side of the industry. Hoffman became international in 1970 with a crane leased in Bermuda, and the company soon had equipment working in ports around the world.
Bumby left Hoffman for three years to become western division manager at Baldwin Lima Hamilton (BLH) in Ohio. BLH was a division of Armour, known most for its meat products. He returned to Hoffman at the request of Harry Hoffman. Then, in 1975, Bumby left again to become president of Head & Guild, Texas. He was recruited by Tom Engquist of sister company, Head & Engquist (H&E), Louisiana. A year later H&E broke off on its own.
In 1980, Bumby formed Equipment Contractors in Houston, which exported cranes to Latin America and the Middle East. Later that decade he embarked on his long relationship with Lift Systems. Last year Lift Systems was purchased by a consortium that included Bruce and Bonnie Forster of Rigging Gear Sales.
“The future of E.C.C. will be with Rigging Gear Sales and Ben Forster, who is slowly taking over for his father,” says Bumby. “Throughout the transition, I've been very involved with the new company. As I proceed on that board of directors, I talk with Ben Forster nearly every day. We're travelling together to meet with my clients in different parts of the world, and he has been in China on his own.”
Bumby also continues as a consultant to Bay Ltd in Texas, an international full-service construction, fabrication and maintenance company.
“Soon I will be able to be heard and not seen,” says Bumby. “That gives me an opportunity to do some creative things I've wanted to do for a long time.”