COMPANY HISTORY
1980 Mr Alfred Cheyne left school aged 16 and served an apprenticeship in Marine Engineering and Hydraulics with the then local Banff company Dauntless Marine Engineering.
1987 Alfred Cheyne became self-employed and started a small engineering establishment at Unit 4a North Castle Street, Banff. With demand from the offshore industry, Alfie became a down hole safety valve specialist, travelling and working through out Europe and Asia, in remote offshore operations.
1993 Alfred Cheyne established a small engineering repair workshop at Montbletton, near Banff. The Montbletton establishment grew very quickly with ten employees within the first eighteen months, carrying out service and repairs to the Scottish Fishing Fleet. A manufacturing base was established with a break through into the manufacturing of Deck Machinery.
1994 Due to the company’s ongoing service and repair commitment to its clients, the company was awarded a contract to manufacture their first set of large Split Winches to fishing vessel Orkney Reiver, complete with a computerised Autotrawl system.
1995 Increased demand and poor working facilities required a new factory to be built. This factory included larger, modern machinery allowing projects for new vessels to be handled.
1996 A mobile hydraulic flushing rig and oil monitoring system was purchased to ensure all hydraulic systems are installed and commissioned to the highest standard.
1997 The company delivered a record number of Fishing Vessel Deck Machinery packages due to the trend of Twin Rig Fishing from traditional Scottish Seine Net Fishing.
1998 The former house at Montbletton was converted to offices and the company introduced it’s own in house computer aided design systems.
1999 The Company purchased and installed a computer aided steel profile cutting machine to further carry out all works in house. A computerised stores management system was implemented.
2000 The company delivered deck machinery packages to a total of fifteen new fishing vessels, sized from 10 – 62 metres and delivered machinery refit packages to eighteen vessels, sized 10 – 40 metres.
2001 The company installed a complete new computer network system and a new Solidworks 3 dimensional design system and erected a new spray painting facility.
2002 The company erected a new purpose built fabrication factory of 500 square metres with overhead crane facilities. The storage yard was extended and new car park area excavated and completed.
All the company’s service vehicles were upgraded giving service engineers efficient transport at all hours.
The company installed a new high-powered computer network system. A company website was developed and put on line.
The Company increased its business percentage in Marine and Offshore Markets in the world market.
2003 The company invested in larger machine shop capacity with the purchase of a large Crawford Swift Lathe and Webster Bennett vertical turret lathe.
The company purchased and manufactured a large number of winches for the winch hire market in sizes from 5 tonnes to 200 tonnes pull. In addition a range of diesel hydraulic and electro hydraulic power packs were manufactured to complement the winch hire fleet.
Staff training was highlighted by the awards achieved nationally by both administration and machine shop staff.
2004 The company continued investing in its heavy winch hire fleet.
A major staff training program was implemented to further enhance the company’s abilities and meet challenges from the marine and offshore market.
A continuing program of reinvestment in plant and equipment took place with the addition of two new machine shop lathes. The company’s stores were enlarged, increasing stock holding area of hydraulic components and drive units to allow short-term deliveries to customers.
2005 A new Projects and Technical Administration Office was established.
A HR Officer was appointed and full formalisation of the company's personnel department took place.
ACE achieved accreditation to ISO 9001:2000 for the design, manufacture, hire, commissioning and sale of winches and deck machinery by Lloyds Register QA.
ACE achieved Investors In People accreditation.
A personnel hire division established with fully trained offshore service winch operators and experienced hydraulic service technicians, available to travel to Worldwide locations at short notice.
In excess of £1 million was invested in new hire fleet equipment.
2006 Personnel hire division expanded with recruitment of additional offshore technicians. Total staff numbers increased to over 60.
The design department was upgraded with five new Autodesk Inventor stations, including ANSYS Finite Element Analysis software. The company's office computer servers and IT equipment were upgraded.
The continuing ongoing investment in the hire division included the acquisition of eight 200 tonne winches.
2007 Company financial turnover to year end 31 October 2007 exceeded £8 million.
Staff numbers have increased to 85 full time permanent staff with a strong growth in all sectors of marine oil activity including bespoke manufacturing and the offshore personnel division with engineers operating in all corners of the globe.
Hire fleet division has had a further £2 million investment during calendar years 2006 and 2007.
To accommodate the increasing size of the hire fleet division, a hire fleet storage facility has been established at Markethill Industrial Estate, Turriff.
An independent office complex at Banff has been built to accomodate the ACE Hire Fleet division's management and administrative team.