The standard and custom material handling equipment maker gave the Ghanemi family, who own Ace World, access to the railroad sector and represented a major project for the company in the short- and long-term future.
The opportunity to acquire Pullift came about quickly. Camron Ghanemi, the vice president of Ace World Companies recalls: "There was literally no time to come up with a plan to manage it. I negotiated the purchase one week and was taking all the phone calls for the business the next.
"Considering my duties at Ace World, my initial approach to Pullift was reactive. When the phone rang, I answered it. We acquired Pullift in July of last year and up until now I have been running the business on my own."
He adds: "I would like to recognize Paul Brown, previously the president of Pullift, as being a great resource for me to learn the business. He seems to be as passionate about Pullift’s future as he was when he ran it alongside his longtime business partner, Edward Kramer.
"Eventually, in March of this year [2015], I hired some assistance in running the business. Now I can focus on refreshing the image of Pullift and setting the stage to grow the business. Previously, Pullift primarily served the railcar pulling market. That’s a great niche that I would like to continue to serve. However, I would also like to expand into other sectors as well and diversify the business."
Camron will call upon his marketing and finance expertise to implement a growth strategy. He has already launched a new website and logo for the business. The acquisition saw Ace take ownership of the Pullift brand and product range but chose not to retain its footprint in Ohio. The Pullift brand will be managed as a separate, independent business. Ace World, however, joined the list of existing Pullift vendors and became the predominant provider of design and manufacturing of custom winches and other special machinery.
Camron says: "We will be investing in Pullift to grow the custom winch business. I see tremendous growth in this division for us in the next three to five years. Ace World continues to bring more operations in house.
"With new heat treating facilities and laser and water jet cutting operations, we continue to in-source. This gives us more control over our quality, more control over our costs, and ultimately makes us more competitive. We will continue to grow — there’s no question."
