Inc. Magazine puts them in a class among America’s greatest and most inspiring entrepreneurs, and clearly the client base for Edgewater Automation concurs with that assessment as the St. Joseph-based manufacturer makes its fourth appearance in the Inc. 5000.
Rick Blake’s high-tech team continues to maintain a torrid pace of growth 16 years after he first founded the company in the Edgewater district of St. Joseph just north of the St. Joe River. The company’s 49-percent growth pattern in the past year alone keeps them among the fastest-growing private firms in the nation.
Inc. Magazine calls the Inc. 5000 “creators.” To be more specific, Inc. says, “They create companies, they create value, and they create jobs — 619,631 of them over the last three years.”
I’m not sure how many new jobs Edgewater Automation has created in that time, however they are now up to 156 employees and growing. With revenues topping $35.3-million last year, Edgewater ranks 4,702nd on this year’s list of the top 5000 in America.
The high-tech crew designs and builds custom automation equipment, providing machines to a broad array of industries including medical, solar, battery, automotive, electronics, and consumer goods industry sectors. They were the only firm in Berrien County to make the list, and one of 101 in the state to achieve the honor.
The highest ranked Michigan firm on the list is FormulaFolio Investments of Grand Rapids, which clocks into the top ten at the #10 position with revenues of $17.2-million. Their growth rate of nearly 14,000-percent punched them into the top ten for the first time after they first appeared on the list in 2015 at #944 and surged to #15 last year. The agency manages money, serving investors, non-profits, and corporate retirement plan clients from their Grand Rapids office complex. FormulaFolio was founded 6 years ago in 2011 and has 43 employees on the payroll.
Edgewater Automation continues to perform well for a 16-year old company. Blake’s team first made the Inc. 5000 in 2007 at #2,829…and appeared again in 2008 at #2,888 and in 2012 at #3,565. The company has expanded its physical footprint three times now in Edgewater and will have to add off-site space for future expansion because they are out of space at their St. Joe site.
The company hosted Manufacturing Day in October of 2015 and has also been visited by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder a couple of years ago as he worked to advance skilled trades training in the state.
Boost Marketing Group of Ada, Michigan — outside of Grand Rapids — was the only other privately held Michigan firm to break into the top 50 on the Inc. 5000 this year. The advertising and marketing agency enjoyed a more than 6,269-percent growth rate in the past year with revenues topping $11-million to make the list. Some 20 other Grand Rapids metro companies also made the annual list this year ranging from 168th on the list for Fifth Wheel Freight Company to 4,711th on the list with the manufacturing firm, Custom Profile, measuring revenues north of $40.6-million last year.
The top company in the nation was the San Francisco mobile-gaming software firm, Skillz with more than 50,000-percent growth and $54.2-million in revenues.
According to Inc., the fastest-growing sectors of American business are the Travel & Hospitality industry, the media sector, and energy enterprises.
The photo accompanying this story on Moody on the Market.com shows one small section of a massive automation system built by Edgewater Automation for a manufacturing client.
