LEARN MORE ABOUT ACE
About Ace Electric Motor
Some companies are built on balance sheets. Ace was built on a handshake and a passion.
In 1952, Melvin Gutsche — a man with 18 years of electric motor experience and a deep love for the craft — purchased the motor division from Heild Electric and set out with a simple mission: serve the Central Valley and do the work right. For more than two decades, Melvin's shop hummed with thousands of motor and pump repairs. He wasn't just fixing equipment. He was building a reputation, one job at a time.
When Melvin's health forced him to step back in 1970, he handed the reins to his youngest son, Lance — who had been hanging around the shop since the age of six. At 28, Lance took over as operations manager, and by 1976 he owned the company outright. For more than 34 years, Lance carried his father's standard: exceptional work, honest service, and a pride in craft that no shortcut could replace.
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In April 2010, Lance retired to spend more time with his family. He sold Ace to Josh Iris, his then-operations manager — someone who already understood what the company stood for.
Josh's love for this industry isn't something he inherited. He found it on his own. In his early twenties, he attended a root cause failure analysis class put on by EASA, led by the legendary Tom Bishop. Something clicked. The physics, the diagnostics, the puzzle of understanding why a motor fails and how to prevent it ever failing the same way twice — he was hooked. Two decades later, that curiosity hasn't dimmed. If anything, it's grown.
"I still look forward to learning something on every job." — Josh Iris, Owner
Under Josh's leadership, Ace has grown to 30 people and expanded into electrical contracting and automation. But the mission is the same one Melvin started with. We hire people who match our culture first — curious, honest, performance-driven — and then we teach them to be excellent. The result is a team that takes genuine pride in the work, not just the paycheck.
he result is a team that takes genuine pride in the work, not just the paycheck.
The customers we serve have trusted us through droughts and harvest seasons, through plant expansions and economic downturns. We're on the farms keeping irrigation pumps running through the long Central Valley summer. We're in the food processing and packaging plants where a downed line means real money lost, real product spoiled. We keep conveyor systems moving, manufacturing floors humming, and lights on in homes across the region. We help municipalities keep their wastewater treatment plants running around the clock — because when that system fails, entire communities feel it. Some of the families and businesses we serve today first called us in the 1980s. That kind of loyalty isn't given. It's earned, year after year, job after job.
The soul of Ace hasn't changed since Melvin first opened the doors. It lives in the way we take time to understand a problem before we fix it, in the standards we refuse to lower, and in the relationships that have outlasted decades of change.
And the story isn't close to finished.
Josh's kids have already spent time at the shop — climbing around equipment, asking questions, getting the grease and the curiosity in equal measure. The same way Lance once learned from Melvin, a fourth generation is already beginning to understand what this place is about. We're building toward that future on purpose, with the same values that have guided Ace from the very beginning.
The Central Valley deserves a partner that's still going to be here. We intend to be.
OUR MISSION STATEMENT
"To Improve the Way of Life For Millions of People ... Silently"
What we believe (core values)
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Service – We serve at the highest level, always.
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Team – We stand together as ONE. STRONG, FOCUSED & UNSTOPPABLE
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Safety – The safety of our team members and clients are valued above all else.
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Reputation – Honesty and "doing the right thing" are out unwavering standards.
