Business Profile: Ace Machining

This Dartmouth, NS shop is expanding to meet customer needs.

Nestled into the industrial area of Woodside in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Ace Machining has positioned itself for expansion and growth. Co-owners Andy Race and Ron Wallace have always looked for unique positioning opportunities to set their machine shop apart, and they’ve been able to do this through their location and their capabilities.

Back in 2008, Ron Wallace placed an ad on Kijiji looking to buy a machine shop somewhere in the Halifax area. Instead of a buying a business he ended up purchasing several pieces of equipment and setting up his own shop in Dartmouth. “And we’ve been plugging away ever since,” says Wallace.

“It was a bare bones machine shop, but we’ve expanded and added a lot of machines since,” explains Race. In its earliest days, Ace Machining focused on manual machining in order to fill a gap that was missing in the region.

“Our focus when we started was on manual because we found a lot of the shops in Nova Scotia were focusing on CNC,” says Wallace. “For us, it’s not cost effective to CNC a one-off prototype part. We could make the part in the time others have written the program. What we found is a niche market where we could do a lot of manual stuff.”

After establishing the business and developing a strong customer base, Ace Machining began subbing out approximately 10 per cent of its work to local CNC shops due to its manual machine focus. However, in 2012, Wallace and Race purchased a CNC shop bringing the CNC machines under their roof.

“Now we’ve built quite a big CNC business,” says Race. A lot of people concentrate on one thing; it’s the same with having one customer. You really pencil yourself in a corner. It’s nice to have a little bit of everything as opposed to a lot of one thing.”

It’s this thinking that has allowed Ace Machining to thrive in the area. The co-owners are always looking for new opportunities and willing to work with any customers for any jobs, as long as they can do it.

“We are only held back by our square footage right now,” says Race. This has prompted the company to start exploring expansion. The current facility is roughly 5,000 square feet. However, Race and Wallace recently purchased 1.8 acres of land where they are building a 14,400 square foot facility to accommodate their growing business and capabilities.

The machine shop currently employs about a dozen workers. However, Wallace and Race are constantly supporting the trades by taking in summer students to help expose them to new career opportunities. One of the students has been returning to Ace Machining for the past three summers and hopes to join the team after finishing an Engineering Degree at Acadia University. Wallace explains that at the moment they don’t have an engineer, but by the time the student has graduated, they may be at a stage where they need one.

A view of the shop floor.

A view of the shop floor.

Education is a really important element to the business model of Ace Machining. Race and Wallace make it very clear to their employees that anyone interested in upgrading their skills will be supported. One of the challenges the co-owners face is that the colleges in the area don’t support the trades as well as they should, which can often lead to labour shortages. Offering the workers the ability to get an additional ticket benefits both the worker and Ace Machining.

“We’ve offered the guys the option to take correspondence courses,” explains Wallace. “They have the opportunity to come in for an hour a day to do their online course at the shop, and we will pay them that hour on the condition that they pass. I know that when you get home at the end of the day, turn the computer on and it’s hard not to be distracted. It’s out there… and we’d never begrudge anyone any education.”

It’s really all about expansion and growth for the two co-owners, who pride themselves on creating an environment where they are leaders rather than just the boss, often joining the guys on the shop floor or onsite to help complete time-sensitive projects.

In the Maritimes, there is a challenging cycle of hiring and layoffs. The two men are trying to break this trend.

“When we hire someone we really want to make sure that we have the work,” says Wallace. “We have a good team, and they are like family. We truly care about the employees and they really make us who we are. If it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t be where we are. Any of the guys out there we would bend over backward for. As long as they treat us fair, we treat them fair. “

One way Ace Machining overcomes the slower times while retaining their workers is through inventory. “When work slows down, we know what our customers need and we keep inventory for them,” says Race. This has not only allowed the company to thrive in slower times, in the busier times, like the present, they are able to take on new jobs while serving existing customers.

Developing strong customer relationships is a key priority. “We are honest with our customers, and when they send us work, we let them know if we can do it or not. We don’t want to be let down or let people down,” says Wallace.

Ace Machining will work with any customer in any industry. They do a lot of work in the safety industry, oil and gas and offshore marine research and development, which is in conjunction with universities. They also do a wide range of prototyping. Their customers range from the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation for plow parts, Irving Shipbuilding for whom they are a vendor, all the way to custom work in Alberta.

An operator working on
a Challenger CNC lathe in the dedicated CNC
machine shop, currently located in a separate
building.

An operator working on a Challenger CNC lathe in the dedicated CNC machine shop, currently located in a separate building.

The company recently picked up a new customer in New Brunswick where they are making parts for the cell towers in the province. The company operates the cell towers for service and is constantly upgrading the equipment. With 89 cell towers, Ace Machining is keeping busy, with each piece being a few days’ work.

Getting inventive with equipment has proven successful for Race and Wallace and has helped them retain important customers. But the co-owners also support initiatives to bring in more customers by providing a commission to employees when new work or customers are brought in.

“When our guys are outside of work it helps. They can really say, ‘I work here and I’m happy to work here.’ They appreciate it and we appreciate it,” explains Race.

“We wanted the employees to be involved more and have a sense of ownership in the company,” says Wallace.

It’s this thinking that allows the men to operate their business and take on odd jobs that other shops just can’t. Race explains that when boats come in the harbour, it’s always a rush job for them. Time is money, so they know that they can get a crew together to get the job done and are compensated accordingly.

“As far as the employees go, I’m not going to ask them to do something that I’m not willing to do myself,” says Race. “When there is a dirty job, if you are not prepared to do it yourself, I’m not asking them to do it. Nine times out of 10, we are in there doing it with them.”

Taking on a wide variety of jobs and not putting all of their “eggs in one basket” has allowed the shop to thrive. It’s this mentality that feeds into their expansion plans to build a bigger shop to handle more work. Race and Wallace have positioned themselves to overcome slower times and maintain quality work and adhere to deadlines in strong times. With their new facility set to open in the near future, there is no limit to where Ace Machining can go.

 

About the Author
Canadian Metalworking / Canadian Fabricating & Welding

Lindsay Luminoso

Associate Editor

1154 Warden Avenue

Toronto, M1R 0A1 Canada

Lindsay Luminoso, associate editor, contributes to both Canadian Metalworking and Canadian Fabricating & Welding. She worked as an associate editor/web editor, at Canadian Metalworking from 2014-2016 and was most recently an associate editor at Design Engineering.

Luminoso has a bachelor of arts from Carleton University, a bachelor of education from Ottawa University, and a graduate certificate in book, magazine, and digital publishing from Centennial College.