When a new project takes off at Edgewater Automation, there is rarely, if ever, a standard operating procedure to fall back on. No manual to refer to, no one-size-fits all approach, no "been there, done that."
The exact same operations day-in day-out are not in Edgewater's culture. Instead, each and every project has its own team of engineers, machine builders, electricians and control technicians devising original approaches and solutions unique to a particular customer.
The St. Joseph-based company is a customized designer and builder of assembly lines and assembly processes and equipment.
Customized is the key word.
Now in its 10th year of business,
Edgewater brings in $12 to $15 million a year and has seen sales explode overseas, shipping what is designed and produced inside its 39,000-square-foot facility "all over the world: China, Japan, Spain, Netherlands, Mexico, Canada," says President Rick Blake.
The demands have taken the company named for the state renaissance zone in which it is located from a 14-employee outfit in 2001 to a 56-person staff in 2010.
Each employee is part of the eclectic process that has a definite beginning and end, from conceptualizing and designing to building and implementing a new assembly line or assembly line process, only to crumple up the plans, so to speak, and start fresh again on the next project.
On one project, Edgewater Automation added a process to a battery-making assembly line that saved labor costs and improved safety for assembly line workers.
On another project, a team devised from scratch a whole new assembly line for solar panels.
Edgewater's latest challenge comes from NASA, which awarded the company a contract to work on its air rocket program. NASA needs to test a rocket in space like conditions here on Earth. To do that, the rocket requires a special lift and Edgewater will design and build the power supply that lifts off the rocket and its millions of pounds of weight.
The contract involves the development of Constellation Launch Vehicles,
Ares I and Ares V. Edgewater's Research, Test and Development arm will work with NASA through its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. to build the vehicles, which will replace the space shuttle.
The company will bring its electro-mechanical expertise to help NASA build a hydraulic power unit to test the vehicles, which weigh more than 2 million pounds.
The hydraulic design is needed to simulate space-like conditions and allow researchers to test the vehicles as they are shaken as if in take-off and flight.
"It's very exciting," Blake says.
If politics and other roadblocks stay out of the way of the NASA project, the company could be in the position of hiring more people. It all depends on whether the NASA project is a go at the same time as other projects.
Michigan's foundation in manufacturing and assembly lines provided the springboard for Edgewater's prosperity.
The company had begun to diversify its business before the auto companies' struggles took hold.
Today Edgewater Automation is a case study for the wisdom of having a fallback plan.
"The auto business is coming back, but we had already started to diversify," Blake says. "If we had waited we would have been in trouble."
While it was cars that started the company on its road to success, Edgewater has turned to other areas to grow and thrive.
Medical devices, solar and alternative energy and batteries have all been growth areas for the company.
"Michigan has a lot of capabilities that other states don't have," Blake says. He's talking about the people and infrastructure to build and produce things, especially assembly lines that go back to the days when Michigan and Henry Ford put mainstream America on wheels.
"The disadvantage Michigan has is it is not a growth state," he says.
Until the growth returns, "I go further and further to get work."
Blake, 52, a Californian lured to Michigan 30 years ago by a girl -- now his wife (they live in Sawyer) -- is riding the ups and downs of the state and is staying put.
"We've been very fortunate, " he says. "We are part of some significant growth areas."
Being a small company also has proved advantageous to Edgewater.
"Because we're smaller, the decision-making process can be very fast," Blake says. "We can move quickly from concept to completion. Smaller companies have the potential to be agile."
In the meantime, Edgewater will knock out its one-of-a-kind projects, but remain mum on the project details, marketing manager Ryan Blake says of the privately-held company that is an affiliate of the Manders Group. Ryan Blake is the son of the company's president.
"As the person who is responsible for marketing, it can be frustrating not telling some of the stories," he says. "There is amazing work going on here. There's so much creativity and so much going on with the latest technology, but a lot of what's going on is top secret. The companies want these things kept quiet. I can barely get the engineers to talk.
"They absolutely protect their clients, but that's what I like about this business: it's always challenging, always exciting."
Kim North Shine is a Detroit-area freelance writer and admirer of creative thinkers.
Photos by
Erik HolladayEdgewater Automation tests a robotic assembly line at their facility in St. Joseph, Mich.
Materials used to build the assembly lines and parts at Edgewater Automation.
Edgewater Automation creates custom assembly lines and test equipment.
A product created by Edgewater Automation to organize washers.
Rick Blake, President of Edgewater Automation (photo supplied by Edgewater Automation).