About Us

It all began with a dream to start a family business

Larry Derks started in the crane business back in 1963 working for a well—known crane mfg., starting out as a draftsman moving up to an estimating engineer then as a subcontractor that brought him around the world working on crane projects. Larry made the decision with his son Craig to come home to west Michigan and start a crane service company concentrating on the customer and filling all their service needs 24-7.

Star Crane & Hoist was founded in western Michigan in 1985 as a family owned business, with Larry’s 20+ years of crane experience, at the time from Larry’s previous positions, and Craig with his automotive and drafting experience, they went for it.

In 2022 we joined Lift Solutions Holdings Company – a national industrial lifting solutions company focused on inspection, repair, and replacement products for overhead cranes, hoists and below the hook products.

Today the headquarters is in Allendale, Michigan that houses sales, service and fabrication operations. Over the years One Crane Source was developed as distributorships evolved with sales and service facilities in Saginaw, Kalamazoo, Traverse City, Detroit, Bowling Green Ohio, Columbus Ohio, Cleveland Ohio, Angola Indiana, South Bend Indiana, Milwaukee Wisconsin, Elizabethtown Kentucky, Denver Colorado, Roselle Illinois, and Griffin Georgia.

Throughout the years there have been many expansions, new distributorships, and numerous awards as the premier crane company of the Midwest and the United States. The family business continues to flourish, with a brother, a son and daughter, as well as cousins in the business and is a testament to Larry’s passing in 2010. The growth continues, yet the ideals remain the same:

Building long—term business partnerships by meeting the needs of each and every customer with the absolute highest quality of products and services.

The customer base crosses every conceivable product and service line from nuclear to entertainment to educational, along with many more. A key measure of the success of the company is their commitment to faith, family, and their employees as well as ALL their customers. All this has brought them long term recognition as the crane and hoist industry leader for the Great Lakes Region.

Our Mission

Providing our customers with rapid, reliable, efficient service, from a highly qualified team of associates.