It Happened in Crawford County: Mark Osborne's engineering efforts have impacted the world
Mark Osborne is a son of Wayne and Joanne Ehrick Osborne, who lived in Marion. Mark’s mother was born in Bucyrus. His grandfather, Harry Ehrick, had a sister Lillian, who married Arthur, the father of Eddie (Norton’s Flowers) and grandson of the founders of Bucyrus. Mark’s dad became a self-taught engineer after World War II and started work at the lowest level at Marion Power Shovel.
Wayne moved up as chief engineer of intermediate machines, working on the NASA crawler transporter. He moved on to Huber, makers of road maintenance equipment, and then to Fairfield Engineering, designing conveyors and material handling equipment.
When problems came up, Mark, about 12, often went with his dad to help, and it’s where his interest in heavy equipment and engineering began. Mark graduated in 1970 from Marion Harding High School as part of a big class of 560.
Mark began college at OSU when he was 17 and earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1975. During this time, Mark met Judy Ruth in their freshman English class. When Mark wanted to date Judy, he had to study with her, often a library date. He credits her for helping him stay motivated and working hard. She graduated summa cum laude in political science in just three years at the end of 1973. She basically waited for Mark to finish college and, in the meantime, worked in Jobs and Family Services in Marion. Before college, Judy, a daughter of Howard and Anne Ruth, was living in Marion, and she went to Marion Catholic through the eighth grade. The family moved and she graduated in 1970 from Marion Pleasant High School.
The job market was poor in 1975, but Mark got a job at FMC in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as a junior designer for cranes and heavy equipment. He became the youngest project engineer in the division, ending up with a patent that he developed. It was for the tallest self-erecting tower/boom in the world with a height of 550 feet. Then in 1983, interest rates were sky-high and heavy equipment business was in bad shape, so Mark was clever enough to arrange a transfer to a division in Minneapolis.
He went from cranes to working on guided missile launchers. His job became very important, and every week he had to be in Washington, D.C., to give naval briefings. His team was the mechanical design group for the MK-41 Vertical Launching Systems. Now, 30 years later, it’s still the current missile launch system for cruisers and destroyers. During the Gulf War, the missiles launched from ships straight up from vertical capsules. But, in the end, Mark didn’t like the huge city and the weekly travels, so he found another job.
Ramon Shealy recruited Mark to come to Bucyrus at Ohio Locomotive Crane. He made the move with Judy and their sons, and they have lived in Bucyrus for 32 years. Mark quickly saw a need for more modern products. The shop’s infrastructure was really good, but the product demand was declining. Ramon liked Mark’s plan to partner with a Belgium engineering firm and their unique, balanced hydraulic cranes and to bring it to America. They were headed in that direction when Ramon passed. The other owner didn’t believe they needed the Belgium engineering talents, and he told Mark to do it himself.
"We need the expertise from Europe, and my goal is to bring good work to Bucyrus," Mark responded.
After 10 years at Ohio Locomotive Crane and supporting this product, Mark resigned and partnered with the Belgium firm. Beginning in the year 2000, E-Crane International USA began operations.
"You can always count on gravity, it works," said Mark.
It’s a unique parallelogram that connects the counterweight to the load, assuring the crane is always in a near balanced condition. An E-Crane can weigh over a million pounds and operate on an average of 200 HP while handling 35 tons at 125-foot reach. The business is in the Galion Industrial Park. His son, Steve, followed his dad by getting his OSU degree in mechanical engineering and P.E. license. The transition to Steve as CEO took three years.
“Steve is doing an amazing job running and growing the business," Mark said.
E-Crane International USA is entering its 23rd year of operation.
E-Crane is really green. It lowers operational costs and is designed for up to 100,000 operating hours. Compared to the electric powered, E-Crane to a diesel driven excavator-based handler with a life of 15,000 hours. E-Crane has delivered some 200 machines in North and South America and has provided good jobs in Crawford County and overseas.
Mark is now retired. Judy stayed in the welfare business and worked at Job and Family Services, retiring in 2013 and then returning to work part-time for another five years. Their son Brian also has a degree from OSU in strategic communications working as senior VP for the Strategy Group in Columbus.
Judy and Mark remain active with the OSU-Marion campus alumni.
Go online for more of Mary Fox’s stories and photos on bucyrustelegraphforum.com. If you are interested in sharing a story, write Mary Fox, 931 Marion Road, Bucyrus, OH 44820 or email littlefoxfactory@columbus.rr.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Mark Osborne's engineering efforts have impacted the world
