WOMEN IN INDUSTRY
O’Connell continued to build the locomotive and crawler
crane business and expanded into new markets. In 2016, she
launched a new business: IPS Metro: a Women Owned Business
Enterprise certified company that manufactures a patent-
pending mobile crane, relatively lightweight and emission-
free, for the subway transit systems. In 2017, she acquired
American and Ohio Locomotive Crane Company, solidifying IPS
CRANES as the only OEM manufacturer for American and Ohio
locomotive cranes and the industry’s broadest and deepest
range of custom crane manufacturing, services and resources.
In less than 20 years, O’Connell has grown IPS from three
employees to nearly fifty employees.
O’Connell says, “Our employees at IPS CRANES Duluth were
once apprentices; now, they’re running the shop – a full-service
repair/rebuild facility for all types of track and crawler cranes.
We offer career positions for painters, welders, mechanics,
electricians, hydraulic specialists and others who may have been
called in for emergency repairs or to be part of a big project.”
O’Connell describes herself as “resilient and enthusiastic, the
champion of IPS, its brand and her team.” And, her greatest
accomplishment: “Seizing the opportunity to become a custom
crane manufacturer. We’ve positioned the co