Ace Laboratories name spotlights lab, testing expertise

WARRENSVILLE HEIGHTS, Ohio—Since its launch in 2015, Ace Products and Consulting L.L.C. has made quite a name for itself in the rubber industry.

Now, the product development and materials testing firm—best known for its work within the silicone space—is making another name for itself.

Meet Ace Laboratories.

It's the same company, just with a new, streamlined name.

In fact, Founder and CEO Erick Sharp, who spoke with Rubber News during the ACS Rubber Division's Spring Technical Meeting in Warrensville Heights, was quick to note that nothing has changed with the company he established in 2015. It's offering the same high-quality services for product development and testing. It's just doing it with a little bit of clarity for its current and potential clients.

"We have had people come in knowing that we support products and knowing that we support consulting, and then they see we have a lab and they're like, 'oh you've got a lab, too?' " Sharp said. "And I'm thinking it's kind of our core business, so maybe we should be putting the fact that this is our core business in our name somewhere and putting the emphasis there."

The name change, he said, also makes sense when you consider that it was the laboratory testing side of the business that has really taken root—more so than the product development side. That doesn't really surprise Sharp, who said he saw certain trends emerging in the lab and testing space years ago.

What did surprise him, though, was the rate at which those trends—of outsourcing lab, testing and product development support, specifically—took hold.

"My prediction was that we would see demand for third-party support grow. And so, whereas before it would be really small companies that would outsource development or outsource some of their screenings because they didn't want to put in the cost structure to do that, we are now seeing that increase," Sharp said. "Now, it's middle-size companies that are saying we don't want to have a technical director and three lab techs and all the laboratory access costs."

There are a number of reasons for that transition, but Sharp believes that it was spurred, in part, by the pandemic. A lot of veteran technicians opted to retire, and in many cases, companies aren't likely to fill those positions, leaving them with fewer in-house resources.

Further, companies are looking to better manage the rising costs of business, driven by significant increases on materials and shipping pricing. One option they're employing, Sharp said, is outsourcing in the lab and testing side.

"Now, we are seeing some large companies say they are going to hold their tech staff at a set point—and if their demand or need gets greater than that, they will outsource that overflow," Sharp said. "Companies are really beginning to do that analysis, and they see these laboratory services and development can be a variable cost by outsourcing."

And when those companies—small, large and in-between—launch searches for a third-party laboratory to help with testing of any kind, including for compliance and regulatory standards, Ace wants its name to stand out.

As Ace Laboratories, Sharp believes it will.

Much has changed for Ace since Sharp launched the company seven years ago.

Simply stated, Sharp said, it grew. A lot.

And quickly.

"When I opened it, it was a one-man band," Sharp said. "I was renting lab time at places when I first started. Now, we have got 26,000 square feet of operational space, and just this year we have increased our staff by 50 percent."

In addition to its 26,000 square feet of lab space, Ace has plenty of room for additional growth with 55,000 square feet of available space for enhanced services and equipment as the timing allows.

But investments in better services don't always translate to additional square footage. This year, particularly, the biggest investments have come on what Sharp calls the business "infrastructure." Because Sharp sees even more growth on the horizon, with lab outsourcing trends continuing.

And when the business grows, he and Ace Laboratories will be ready.

"The main thing about growth is that you have to be able to handle it," Sharp said. "So we wanted to make sure we proactively got behind that and started putting that in place right away this year. … We are doing some key system pieces internally and building our infrastructure. We're improving how we're tracking orders and managing orders, giving visibility to our customers on their statuses and things like that."

That infrastructure piece is critical, especially as Ace Laboratories continues to expand its reach globally.

United Kingdom-based partnerships Ace has established in the previous few years have played key roles roles in that growth. Two of note are with England-based rubber industry marketing specialist Rubber Heart and U.K.-based testing equipment maker Wallace Instruments.

"We are seeing great growth internationally, and Europe has been a great sector of that growth," Sharp said. " … It has been great having a presence over there with (Rubber Heart founders) David (Cawthra) and Gail (Reader) right there. It's been a good segment to build into.

" … That has been going well there, and we continue to make strategic efforts in parts of Asia and other areas, but Europe seems to be the most prime," he added. "We see a lot of opportunity to continue to grow there."