Ace Winches welcomes Alex Salmond to Global Headquarters

Mr Salmond, who is constituency MSP for Aberdeenshire East, where ACE Winches is based, was greeted by chief executive officer Alfie Cheyne at the firm's Towie Barclay Works headquarters, near Turriff.

During the visit Mr Salmond saw a presentation that illustrated Mr Cheyne's vision for the future at Towie Barclay and the £11 million investment in its transformation into a global centre of engineering and manufacturing excellence.

Since founding ACE Winches in 1992, Mr Cheyne has never wavered from his commitment to establish the business as an indigenous north-east of Scotland company, that retains a local workforce competing at a global level.

During his visit to ACE Winches Mr Salmond saw the latest order to be completed, on schedule, at Towie Barclay - a £4.2 million pound winch package. The ABS certified winches are destined for Superior Energy Services based in Houston and built to withstand the severest of conditions in the Arctic where they will eventually be deployed.

'This contract is the next step in our strategy to become a significant player in North and South American markets, and further cements our reputation for delivering exceptional service and performance in the world's harshest operating environments,' said Mr Cheyne.

Accompanied by Chief Financial Officer Valerie Cheyne and Chief Operating Officer Graeme Wood, Mr Cheyne provided Mr Salmond with a brief history of the firm and explained plans for the company's growth.

The company has a strong commitment to youth employment, training, research and development. The ACE Winch Academy aims to be the unrivalled accredited provider of training in all aspects of winch project engineering and winching operations for clients and ACE personnel.

Mr Salmond met with some of the workforce and praised the company's global export achievements in both its manufacturing and hire business divisions. He added that ACE Winches had recognised the huge potential in world markets and praised the company's vision to become a global centre of excellence in winching technology and hardware supply.

Mr Salmond said: 'ACE Winches' exciting expansion plans show a dynamic and ambitious local employer going from strength to strength."

Scotland has huge potential to export its first class technological capabilities and ACE Winches is grasping these exciting opportunities, driving forward their company and actively promoting their knowledge and innovation abroad.

'After many years in the constituency, ACE Winches is a key employment provider and it is the home grown expertise of this work force that will help see ACE realise its impressive vision for the future.'

ACE employs 240 people around the world, with 180 located at Towie Barclay. With approximately 70% of its turnover attributed to overseas markets, Mr Cheyne said the firm is looking to grow its number of international bases. As the current Norwegian market is particularly buoyant, its first aim is to strengthen and support its existing Norwegian base in Stavanger to maximise the potential this market and client base has to offer.

The company is constructing a four-acre facility within the campus for the load testing up to 800te and mobilisation of winching equipment. A new warehouse will be operational from May 2012.

Since 2003, when the company had 25 employees and a turnover of £1.8 million, it has focussed on its main objective to achieve sustained growth, success and profitability. The company has received numerous awards for its export achievements including the coveted Queen's Award for Enterprise 2010 and a Scottish Offshore Achievement Award for Exports in 2010.