DALTON, Mass. — The former Crane & Co. has gone through a variety of changes in recent years from being acquired in 2017 by Crane Co. of Stamford, Conn., to now being separated from Crane Holdings. 

 

The separation was a year in the making and allows both companies to focus on their different fields and makes it easier for investors to research what they are investing in, say company officials. 

 

Crane Co. will continue its work as a purveyor of pipes and steam pumps, and manufacturing, electronics, aerospace and technology. 

 

Crane Payment Innovation and Crane Currency became subsidiaries of the new business Crane NXT that focuses on authentication, security, and detection. Crane NXT began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "CXT."

 

Despite the separation, the sizes of the two businesses is significant. "They're not massively large but they're still billion-U.S. dollar-plus entities in their own right," Crane Currency Global Marketing Director Tod L Niedeck said, and their size is still attractive to investors. 

 

With the separation, the company has smaller management so things are more streamlined and can focus on their priorities for investment for future growth.

 

Crane NXT will focus on what it does well, which is securing products, banknotes, identification and then work more closely with its sister company Crane Payment Innovation.

 

Max Mitchell will remain the president and chief executive officer of Crane Co and will be on the Crane NXT Board of Directors.

 

Aaron Saak was appointed Crane NXT president and CEO in November 2022.

 

In the last 25 years, Crane has grown to focus beyond United States currency by producing and designing banknotes, and innovating security features for different central banks around the world, Niedeck said.

 

The knowledge that it gets from meeting the needs and preferences of customers from around the world are transferrable to any customer.

 

"So it's that sort of international group I think also really helps our discussions with the U.S. government — what has Crane been seeing, what are we doing for designing different banknotes for different countries, what are the needs there — because U.S. currency is really a world currency," Niedeck said.

 

"You know, those are the kinds of discussions that happen with the U.S. government, I think are enjoyed by them because we have that sort of worldview."

 

The company no longer makes banknotes for its international customers in the United States — that is where the Swedish mill comes into play. 

 

The Dalton mill is very specialized, strictly focusing on U.S. currency. Crane has been supplying currency paper to the United States since 1879.

 

Crane Co. was founded by a different Crane — Richard — in 1855 and has had, until recently, no affiliation with the Dalton papermaking company that Zenas Crane moved from the Boston area back in 1801. 

 

Where Zenas' company concentrated on fine papermaking and currency, Richard was a Chicago purveyor of pipes and steam pumps, and his company expanded into manufacturing, electronics, aerospace and technology in the ensuing century.