Pictured above (l to r): Don Caddy, Evan Walker, Brandon Patton, Lora Patton, Clark Cassell, Aaron Pedigo, Allie Collier, and Phillip Rose.
Twenty years can change a lot.
When Engineering Innovation, Inc. was founded in Lafayette, Indiana, in 2006, the goal wasn’t simply to build another mail automation company. Founders Don Caddy and Adam Fleming had spent much of their careers in the mailing industry, and they wanted to put that experience to work close to home. Just as importantly, they wanted to build the kind of company where people wanted to work.
It started small. Really small. Two engineers and an office measuring roughly 12 by 20 feet.
Then came an opportunity.
Changes to USPS pricing were making flats more expensive to mail, while creating greater incentives for presorting. Eii began working on a practical, lower-cost way for mailers to take advantage of those discounts. The result was EZ-Flats, introduced at the 2007 National Postal Forum. It put Eii on the map, and within a few years, the system could be found in presort operations across the country.
A lot has happened since then.
Today, Eii has more than 80 team members and over 50,000 square feet of office, production, and warehouse space. Our work has expanded well beyond the flats processing that got us started. Mail remains part of who we are, while parcel processing and warehouse automation have become established parts of the business.
Twenty years later, we’ve learned quite a bit about building technology, growing a company, and navigating industries that refuse to sit still. A few lessons have stuck with us … (click to read more)