Ace opens new crane building site in Clinton, Tennessee

Electric overhead traveling (EOT) crane and wire rope hoist manufacturer, Ace World Companies, has opened its third facility in Clinton, Tennessee, USA.

The company, with headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, USA, is a specialist in the design and manufacturing of lifting solutions for some of North America’s most demanding applications. Its equipment is widely installed in steel mills, power plants, ship-building and aerospace facilities. This main site serves as a manufacturing facility for its engineered wire rope hoists, trolleys, bridge cranes and end trucks.

In 2010 Ace World Companies opened a second facility in Knoxville, Tennessee, to increase crane building capacity. This will close once operations are relocated to Clinton, a much bigger site that will facilitate the manufacture of larger cranes and increase annual production.

Kevin Beavers, executive vice president at Ace, who will oversee production in Clinton said, “We will primarily be focused on the fabrication of the bridge and the full assembly of the overhead cranes, including completion of the factory acceptance test with the customer before shipment. It will not change what happens in Fort Worth. We have ruled out expansion of other existing facilities at this time.”

The move to Clinton is expected to double the company’s workforce. Currently, 50 people work in Fort Worth and eight at the satellite panel shop facility in Pewaukee, Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Over a dozen workers will ensure production begins in earnest at Clinton, having transitioned from Knoxville. Steel mills and the aerospace sector will be the primary drivers of business in the immediate term, although Ace remains active in a range of industries.

Beavers revealed that the new 45acre property has been revamped with 60,000sqft of the property being demolished. A taller building was then constructed, complete with high-capacity overhead cranes, a 280ft girder table and automated gantry welder.

Beavers said, “This is an exciting new dawn for the company. Inevitably, we, like many others, have been negatively impacted by the pandemic but RFQs [request for quotations] are picking up and enhanced manufacturing capacity will help us respond to that demand with world-class production capability and reduced lead times.”