Ace Metal Crafts - Excellence from start to finiish

Excellence from Start to Finish

Leading stainless steel fabricator and contract manufacturer

New on our blog

Fool proofing with the tube laser

"Knowing how to manufacture a part isn't enough. At Ace we recognize that your customer has the final word."

Dale Ball,
President Ace Metal Crafts

Quality is a Mindset

For many fabricators, quality is
about the finished part.

But for Ace, quality is much more.

It’s the skill of the welder; when one case of Listeria can put you out of business, flawless welding is a must.

It’s value engineering; a team that can – and does – recommend ways to reduce speed and cost.

It’s communication with customers who say, "With Ace, you can always talk to their lead engineer – they keep us in the loop."

It’s lean disciplines for lower cost of ownership.

It’s making sure the customer leaves thinking "they’ve got it."

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Ace in Action

About

A fabricating legacy that began at Ace.

In 1960, sixteen sheet metal workers launched Ace Metal Crafts. The techniques they invented are now standards in stainless steel fabrication.

"Today we are teaching a new crop of engineers, welders, grinders and steel benders.

Here's what we believe...

In our business, there are two kinds of people; problem solvers and order takers. We hire the problem solvers.

If you want to get it right the first time, send us your engineers. And we'll send you ours.

We may be the only fabricator that teams welders with grinders. When people take ownership of their work, you get fewer mistakes.

Total cost of ownership is what really matters. We aren't the cheap guys; we save the customer money by getting it right the first time.

OEMs bring their toughest welding projects to Ace because they know our quality and service is second to none."

Jean Pitzo, Owner, Ace Metal Crafts

Our people know what the customer expects of Ace:

  • Leadership – we use industry best practices
  • Equipment — to support their business
  • Horsepower — to manage the supply chain
  • Quality — from customer service to finished parts
  • Communication — tell one person and the whole team knows
  • Cost — getting it right the first time

People

"Ace was our first outside vendor and now we work as their partner." — Ace customer

The customer sent us 30-page plans which we compressed down to a 5-page document. We cut their detailing by 60+ percent. Today they are one of our largest customers because:

  • Product gets to market faster
  • Takes fabricating off their plate
  • Reduces throughput to engineering
  • Enables them to spend more time on designing

Good welders are hard to find. Ace would never pass up on a great welder.

If you say to a customer, "Give me the
top reason for Ace's success," they'll say
it's our people

Ace handpicks our engineers, welders, grinders and sales people.

We profile customer personalities and match them with you.

We monitor jobs constantly; customers always know what to expect.

We have the capacity when the customer needs it, running second shifts.

Our customers’ engineers are some of our biggest fans.

Capabilities

"Ace is up on all the sanitary requirements. This kind of technical know-how is rare."

Ace Customer

Ace Metal Crafts partners with high-growth and mature industries: food processing, packaging, environmental, pharmaceutical.

In our modern, 82,000 square foot plant, we serve as the manufacturing arm for our customers, with expert laser cutting, forming, rolling, welding, polishing, tube and pipe laser cutting, as well as mechanical assembly.

Ace is recognized for our structural weldment capabilities. We take your designs from concept to reality

Ace builds frames for a large consumer packaged goods brand. We had a big upswing in orders; one monster order required staggering delivery of the parts every 2+1/2 weeks plus an increase in output by more than 30%. Here’s how we did it:

  • Built Gant charts to align people, processes and timelines
  • Conducted twice weekly meetings with the team
  • Delivered the job to spec
  • Reduced production time by more than two weeks
  • Fabrication
  • Product Types
  • Engineering

"We are constantly automating—everything from laser cutting to finishing."

Keith Stout, VP Operations

Agility with Automation

Ace laser cutting technology has the ability to cut up to ½” stainless while holding tolerances of +/-.005”. Directly linked to production CAD systems, we manage a seamless flow of products from design to production.

Laser Cutting

"Sometimes the competition gets the business, but it often comes back to Ace to make it right."

Matt Lichter, Project Engineer

Ace has been a leader in custom metal fabrication since 1960. Nowhere else will you find such a concentration of engineering know-how, manufacturing skills and love of customer. People come to Ace and stay. We foster collaboration through value engineering. Our people take ownership of their jobs. Our work says it all:

Product Types

"At Ace, we don’t just build to spec. We evaluate to see if it can be done better—faster, cheaper, higher quality outcome."

Kevin Bailey, VP Engineering

Process Planning and Value Engineering support production on the shop floor. Ace engineers are trained to know what it takes to fabricate a part.

How to make a high quality part at a competitive cost

Our engineering team is versed in CAD and 3-D technologies. It’s their understanding of how projects flow through our facility that delivers real value, such as:

  • Expertise in value engineering
  • Design for manufacturability
  • Process innovation

Marketing Team

Lean Processes

Continuous improvement is a core value at Ace.

  • We incorporate customer priorities into products and processes
  • We foster innovation and knowledge sharing among teams
  • We train our people to manage risk, cost, scheduling and performance
  • We use cross-functional communications to decrease lead time and increase quality
  • We work closely with customers to understand expectations and deadlines, as well as those of their clients
  • We live and breathe continuous improvement; this translates to better quality, cost and turn time for the customer

We asked customers what lean means to them. Here’s what they had to say

  • "We prefer to work with lean manufacturers; they are more likely to have quicker lead times, lower costs and better quality."
  • "Ace is committed to continuous improvement; this is where the industry is heading."
  • "Ace value streams ensure that I have a dedicated team; they take ownership of the job from start to finish."
blueprint

Tour

Want to see how work flows through Ace?

CLICK on hotspots to discover Ace’s special capabilities.

 

Cost is among the top considerations when choosing a fabricator.

Here’s what our customers have to say about Ace:

"To earn the lion’s share of our business,
a fabricator has to excel on three levels: price, quality and delivery. Ace does."

"Price alone is misleading; it’s really
about total cost of ownership."

"Ace does a great job of inspecting the
parts they produce. This cuts time and
cost for us."

"Their sales rep, senior engineer and president all made trips to our manufacturing facilities—this kind of engagement upfront is unusual and
we value that."


Contact Kevin Bailey for a quote Email

Contact

We take meticulous care of our customers. Take a tour and see Ace in action.

Ways to contact us:

Email:
Engineering
Accounting
Sales
HR

Phone:
Call with questions about our services, or to speak to a sales rep:
1-847-455-1010

Mailing Address:
Ace Metal Crafts
484 Thomas Drive
Bensenville, IL 60106
Get directions

Contact Kevin Bailey for a quote

Careers

The coolest thing Ace does is continuously re-invest in people, technology and processes.Current
Job Openings
at Ace

  • Welder:
    Must be proficient TIG welding stainless and fabricating parts
    within tight tolerance. Must read blue prints and do set-ups.
  • Grinder:
    Must have ability to grind welds and final finish stainless steel
    fabrications to food industry standards. Typical tools are flexible
    shaft, die and disc grinders.
  • Press Brake Operator:
    Job entails set-up, programming and operation of Press Brake,
    installing wide variety of dies, inspecting work, making necessary
    corrections and maintaining the required records. Minimum 5
    years experience. Blue print reading, precision measurement
    and shop math skills required.

Email HR to apply to the jobs posted above.

If you are interested in other current job openings at Ace Metal please click the link below.

Ace Corporate Profile