ACE Brochure

Associated Construction and Engineering, Inc. | 2

Associated Construction and Engineering, Inc.:

Count on ACE for your tank solutions Associated Construction & Engineering Inc. provides turnkey services for welded, bolted and concrete tank structures through its wholly owned subsidiaries.

Written by Kevin Doyle Produced by Stephen Marino

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Associated Construction and Engineering, Inc. | 3

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ssociated Construction & Engineering Inc., established in January of 2011, provides turnkey services for welded, bolted and concrete tank structures through its four wholly owned subsidiaries.

ACE is the parent company of: Paso Robles Tank/Brown-Minneapolis Tank, Inc. (PRT-BMT), Canyon Springs Enterprises, Inc. (RSH), RSH Construction, Associated Tank Constructors (ATC) and West Coast Industrial Coatings, Inc. (WCIC). Thermal Energy Storage, Petroleum, water (potable and waste), agricultural, Wine and specialty Stainless Steel are among the industries the company provides services.

RSH Construction is the civil site work company for ACE and self-performs all grading, concrete, piping, and other ancillary work for PRT-BMT, WCIC, and ATC. RSH also performs pump stations, lift stations, and piping racks for both petroleum and water industries.

WCIC is Steel Structure Painting Counsel (SSPC) QP1-QP2-QP3 certified and coat for each of PRT-BMT, RSH, and ATC on their various projects throughout Western USA. PRT-BMT It is a member of the Steel Pipe Fabricators Association/

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Steel Tank Institute (SPFA/STI), the American Water Works Association (AWWA), the American Petroleum Institute (API), and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

PRT-BMT has won Tank of the Year from SPFA seven years in a row.

Associated Construction and Engineering, Inc. (ACE) generated approximately $88 million in annual sales in 2017 and is looking to increase upon those numbers in 2018. “What separates us is that we are truly a complete turnkey service company where most of the competition sub-contracts out all

Associated Construction and Engineering, Inc. | 5 to bring their talents and strengths together in a depressed economy from 2009 through 2014. “While other companies were closing down or reducing their staff, ACE was growing our market share and expanding into other states,” says Wombles.

“PRT expanded again in 2015 when it bought the intellectual properties from BrownMinneapolis Tank, bought the BMT facility in Albuquerque, and hired back many of the key employees of that plant, and started back up under the ACE banner as PRT-BMT. We have taken failed or floundering companies, reorganized their position, and hired back the talented

Paso Robles Tank and West Coast Industrial Coatings were purchased in 2006. At the time, it was a small regional player to the San Luis Obispo area of California. PRT originally formed in 1989 when it bought the facilities and equipment and hired the employees of its previous owner of San Luis Tank and Piping, Inc. ACE purchased PRT, WCIC, and RSH

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responsible for safety. We have ongoing training and we hired additional managers and trainers to ensure that safety is being followed at all times.

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ancillary work except their own. There is no middle man and sole service responsibility is with ACE companies.” says Company President and CEO Larry Wombles.

We make sure everyone is

- President and CEO Larry Wombles www.a-c-e-inc.com

Associated Construction and Engineering, Inc. | 6 staff to re-energize and start fresh,” Wombles says.

In 2017, PRT opened a bolted-tank line to enable it to service a growing need in the western part of the country. “There are now two bolted tank manufacturing facilities in the West where there was once only one,” Wombles notes.

In late 2017, ACE opened Associated Tank Constructors, Inc. (ATC) which is signatory to the NTD Boilermakers.

With this and hiring some talented staff with the experience of union boilermakers, ATC has been able to start filling the vacuum left when California enacted Senate Bill 54 which mandated Union training and

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journeymen working on all refinery and petroleum projects, thus pushing out all open shop tank companies from California refineries and petroleum market.

Some Key Projects Mojave Solar Project: PRT and RSH performed $14 million worth of work at the facility that began commercial operations in December 2014. The plant features two independently operable solar fields and is expected to generate 617,000 MWh of power annually. Pacific Gas & Electric holds a 25-year power purchase agreement.

Orange County Water District Replenishment System Expansion: PRT and WCIC provided engineering,

Associated Construction and Engineering, Inc. | 7 fabrication, erection and coating of two 8.2 million gallon welded steel reservoirs. Each tank is 216 feet in diameter and 32 feet tall and required 449 concrete foundation piles of 60 to 65 feet in depth as a safeguard against seismic events.

Nearly 1,400 tons of steel was used to fabricate the tanks.

subsidiaries, providing industry best practices and policies. Employees are given the authority and, in fact, are expected to stop work whenever there is a possibility that safety could be compromised. The ACE motto is Safety + Quality = Production.

Among other projects, PRTRSH-WCIC Bridge District tank in West Sacramento, CA was named 2013 STI/SPFA Reservoir Tank of the Year; and its Desert Water construction was selected as 2013 STI/SPFA Specialty Fabrication of the Year.

“We make sure everyone is responsible for safety from top-down and bottom to top. We have ongoing training for all our staff as well as continuing to hire qualified HSE staff and trainers to ensure that safety is being followed at all times and without exception. If you don’t have buy-in from everybody, you can’t be safe,” Wombles states.

Safety Protocol

Operations and Challenges

ACE drives safety through each of its

Being based in California provides regulatory challenges unlike any other state.

“In my opinion and experience, the

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What separates us is that we

are a complete turnkey service. A lot of what we do, the competition

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subs out.

- President and CEO Larry Wombles www.a-c-e-inc.com

Associated Construction and Engineering, Inc. | 8

regulations and the laws surrounding every California contractor are very challenging compared to other states. I’d estimate that California consumes an additional 10-15 percent overhead requirements/direct job costs compared to other states just to work in California,” Wombles says.

“We’ve worked in 20 states over the last 10 years and California is by far the most regulated and difficult to work. But we love it here and this is our home, so we comply in order to stay working in the state.”

A fair number of regulations now in place, such as tiered equipment emissions for heavy duty construction equipment, came about in (est) 2007-08 at the height

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of The Great Recession that all but crippled the industry to comply with unwavering tiered emission standards, which meant new equipment or re-powering older equipment which was very costly.

Given the specialized nature of its work, the ACE subsidiaries face limited bidders in a very tight industry market. Its ability to work seamlessly across multiple industries is a huge advantage and what separates the company from the rest of its competition.

“PRT is a multi-faceted tank company in that they build water, petroleum, agricultural (welded and

Associated Construction and Engineering, Inc. | 9 learned a thing or two along the way.

“Success doesn’t come overnight.

Everything happens for a reason.

The man upstairs wouldn’t challenge/reward you if he didn’t think you could handle it,” he says.

Final Thought As a true turnkey operation, the company’s ability to provide an array of services in a specialized field through its diverse family of subsidiaries should insure continued growth and success moving forward.

COMPANY INFORMATION bolted), SS wine and beer tanks, and SPFA/STI shop built tanks,” Wombles says.

ACE companies prefer to hire, train, and promote from within the ranks.

“We don’t like hiring those employed from other firms or participate in the social media job hopping like firms base their business model. In my opinion, loyalty has been lost due to those social media firms who promote job hopping. The grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence – it’s just fertilized differently,” Wombles jokingly comments.

As an industry veteran with over 30 years experience, Wombles has

Company Name: Associated Construction and Engineering, Inc. Country: U.S. Industry: Construction Est: 2011 Premiere Service: ACE is the leading supplier of welded tanks throughout the United States.

President/CEO: Larry Wombles Website: www.a-c-e-inc.com

www.a-c-e-inc.com

23232 Peralta Dr. Suite #109 Laguna Hills, CA 92653 P: 951-956-9943 E: Info@A-C-E-Inc.com