THE INTERVIEW Molly Wood
Molly Wood, engineering manager, has worked at Ace Industries for over 18 years, and is currently VP at the Crane Manufacturers Association of America (CMAA), which is part of MHI, the US (Material Handling, Logistics and Supply Chain Association). Wood is also an active participant in the CMAA Engineering Committee, which meets biannually to write engineering specifications to promote best practices for the crane and hoist industry.
OCH: Molly, what drives you as an industry leader?
r Molly Wood, engineering manager at Ace Industries and VP at the CMAA. © Phong Nguyen
MW: My passion for manufacturing versus an analysis of existing systems. So, I really enjoy designing things that will be manufactured – considering how we're going to put it together and take it apart. Those are the type of things that drive me and continue to make this job interesting.
I’ve recently been working on a stacker crane that's ultimately going to be used in the navy and a 100t crane and runway structure for a concrete plant. We don't do huge cranes like 200t. we're pretty much in the range of about 1.0t up to 100t as well as runway systems, a lot of single and double girder, lower capacity, cranes. Our plant has physical limitations on what we can build from a dimensional standpoint and our crane capacity is limited by our building capacity. For the most part, we're working with military bases locally, defence contractors, power plants, paper mills, car manufacturers, pretty much anywhere there is manufacturing.
OCH: What is your biggest business inspiration? MW: Walking into the shop and seeing the manufacturing factory and speaking to the welders, fitters and electricians. If they didn't come in to work, we wouldn’t have a job. They are a very important part of our industry. Even though I am white collar, I have a huge respect for all blue-collared workers. Their talent is to take sheets of paper and turn it into a working product. I can’t do that. That’s what drives me, making sure we are always putting product into the shop so that they have a job. I can remember the lean years, between 2008–2010, when the bottom dropped out of the market and as soon as a project was approved, we tried to get it out as fast as we could so people could stay in those jobs. That really influenced how I look at things.
OCH: What is your business philosophy? MW: To create the best product for your application. A turnkey solution that takes into consideration everything about your project. At Ace, we have a personal touch where a person is thinking about your problem and giving you a real-world solution to it. We’re going to take care of you.
OCH: Why and how did you enter this business?
MW: So that's kind of a fun story. I wanted to be a vet up until I was 16 and took chemistry at school, but
40 | Winter 2023 |
www.ochmagazine.com
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