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By Bill Bregar
SENIOR STAFF REPORTER
Published: July 24, 2013 5:11 pm ET
When Whirpool Corp. closed its big refrigerator factory in Evansville, Ind., three years ago, a group of engineers stuck around town — and now they have formed Envolve Engineering LLC.
The firm is led by a group of professionals with more than 68 years of combined experience in the consumer goods and automotive industries. Envolve Engineering expects to have eight to 10 employees in the first six months of business.
The team at Envolve Engineering has special skills in refrigeration and appliance design, from the Whirlpool days.
The firm’s services include plastic part design for injection molding, extrusion, thermoforming and specialty molding, three-dimensional part modeling, metal part design, electromechanical and electronic assemblies and the development of software and control algorithms.
Evansville is a center of plastics processing.
Envolve’s technical leader, Pat Boarman, said the design company has help from local business groups, including the Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville, the Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana and the city of Evansville.
“The tri-state area has a wealth of professional talent,” he said.
“Our business model simply links local talent with customers from a global market.”
Envolve Engineering is located in downtown Evansville, in the Innovation Pointe business incubator.
In a statement, Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke said: “I comment the ingenuity and commitment of the talented group of engineers who made the decision to stay in Evansville and start their own company when Whirlpool ceased production and closed its product design center.” | |
