Ace Shuffles the Pack as Beavers Earns Promotion

Ace World Companies has promoted Kevin Beavers into the role of vice president of crane manufacturing, a position that also sees him join the overhead crane company’s executive management committee.

Beavers’ promotion follows his successful oversight of the manufacturer’s biggest ever order for 23 cranes to be installed at Big River Steel’s $1.3 billion steel mill and recycling facility in Osceola, Arkansas. Beavers ensures the cranes, ranging in capacity from 10 to 135 tons, are being delivered to the steel giant on schedule.

The largest crane, of 135 ton capacity with a 40 ton auxiliary hoist, will be used to handle a caster tundish, while a single 10 ton unit will be used for maintenance. Other cranes include nine of 100 ton capacity with 20 ton auxiliary hoists and two 100 ton capacity machines with 35 ton auxiliaries.

He said: “The opportunity for promotion came as a pleasant surprise to me but I am very excited about stepping up into the new role. I think the success of the landmark Big River Steel job contributed to me being offered the new position. The project represented a perfect fit with our company, as proved by the fact that we have delivered half of the cranes already, on schedule.”

A steel handling crane not related to the Big River Steel job.

However, the Big River job—the hot mill is set to have all the required cranes by the end of March 2016, while the cold mill will take delivery of its final piece of lifting equipment two months later—has not been an isolated showpiece in what Beavers called a very busy 12-month period.

His expanded role will include management of crane manufacturing operations at the 100,000-square-foot headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas and the slightly smaller facility in Knoxville, Tennessee, which opened five years ago to increase crane building capacity and serve as storage for the Advantage range of products.

Beavers added: “The biggest challenge will be my time management between the two facilities and making sure that enough hours are spent at both sites. I will still be selling to the steel mills as well. I hope to continue to grow our crane manufacturing capacity as we constantly strive to get the most out of both facilities.”

Meanwhile, John Haley has joined the company as vice president of operations and Neal Brown, who was the company’s financial controller, has been promoted to vice president of finance. Haley brings a wealth of management and operations experience from the manufacturing sector to Fort Worth.