STATE FOCUS | GEORGIA
climate. He saw the potential to use the Atlanta transportation infrastructure to reimagine the business. He leveraged a series of opportunities to go from repairing motors, to repairing electric hoists, to selling hoists and all related repair parts. This distribution business fit perfectly with the emerging logistics industry in Atlanta. Not only did the city have a world class airport, but it had the benefit of a promising company offering package delivery across the United States, UPS. Combining computers, inventory and an in-depth knowledge of repairing hoists, Ace became a trusted source for hoist and crane parts. With the growth of UPS and close proximity to the Atlanta airport, Ace Electric was transformed into Ace Industries, one of the leading suppliers of hoists, cranes and repair parts across the United States. Those were my first memories of Ace. My grandfather working in the shop, teaching technicians to repair hoists. My father was mostly in the office, taking his knowledge of business and inventory to implement systems that allowed Ace to efficiently provide parts and equipment for material handling equipment. But my most vivid memories were working in the warehouse. As a child, I couldn’t do much, but I spent each summer pulling parts, making boxes and cleaning parts bins. I met the UPS driver each day to unload incoming shipments each morning and load the outgoing shipments each afternoon. My father knew that we had to provide excellent service to earn our customer’s business. For a
Ace's humble beginnings, 1986
young helper in the warehouse, that message translated to “if it prints today, it ships today.” By the mid 1980’s, Ace outgrew its home on Huber Street and moved to its current location in Norcross. This was way of town and just like before, is now one of the closest suburban areas to Atlanta. The 1990’s were a decade of change for
Georgia, Atlanta and Ace. Atlanta was awarded the 1996 Olympics and the excitement was palpable. Old industrial areas of Atlanta were torn down and the city was transformed seemingly overnight. Businesses popped up all over
Georgia and the rest of the south and that meant new opportunities. Georgia and our neighbors embraced this new business climate and began to bring manufacturing south. It started for us when Universal Alloy built a plant just north of Atlanta to make extruded aluminum parts for the aerospace industry. New investments continued each year with new plants for Kia, Hyundai and Volkswagen in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee and infrastructure investments across the state to keep up with the growing industrial base. Ace’s first branch office opened in 1996 in
This monorail, built for Universal Alloy, marked the beginning of a new era 24 Fall 2024 |
ochmagazine.com
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