When he was a kid, taking things apart and putting them back together again used to get Rick Orsillo in trouble. Later, he’d make a successful career doing just that.
Born and raised in Grove City, PA, with older and younger sisters, Rick excelled at all things mechanical early on. Fixing the lawn mower, assembling model cars, tinkering with erector sets were precursors to his college studies at Penn State, where he first considered architecture, but shifted focus to mechanical engineering.
Education was important in the Orsillo household. Rick’s mom was a substitute teacher, his dad a Spanish teacher at the high school Rick attended. “I took a Spanish class from my own dad. I put a lot of pressure on myself because I didn’t want to make a fool of myself in there.”
But it wasn’t all academic for Rick, who was on the baseball, basketball, track, and cross-country teams.
Rick married his wife Traci right after college, though they’d met in high school where she was dating one of his buddies. “At the end of July, we’ll be married 33 years,” he says “Our boys are 24, 28, and 30 already. Lucky for us, they live in the area. Zack is a shop supervisor at Wolverine, Cole is an electrician in the Marines, and Matt, also a Marine, studies music education at Western Michigan University. How quickly time flies.”
In addition to spending time with Heidi and Toby, their grandchildren, the couple has made going to the movies an art form. “It’s date night three times a week at our house. We go to Celebration Cinema, where the first order of business is a large popcorn. My wife had a spinal injury and is very limited physically. Going to the movies is a pleasure we can both enjoy.”
Now a Supply Chain Manager for Edgewater Automation Buchanan, Rick started with the Edgewater Development Division in 2016. “I worked with the Freeosk program until our division was dissolved. I moved to the engineering team under Chad Henry at Edgewater Automation Saint Joseph as Mechanical Engineer for one year before joining the team at Edgewater Automation Buchanan.
“If you surround yourself with good people, you can accomplish anything.” – Rick Orsillo
“My first project was the cart transfer system for Lyons Industries. I got to wear all the hats. The training I received from Chuck Tate and Mike Kanous on the receiving processes as well as the training provided by Greg Newell and Todd Tanksley on the farm-out and purchasing processes really set me up for my new supply chain management role. From ordering the truck to delivering the machine to the customer, I’m involved. Now I’m teaming up with Gina Textor on Purchasing.”
Out of college, Rick’s first engineering job was Werner Ladder Company, the #1 selling ladder in the world. He was there until 1996, when he got a call from a headhunter for a role at Weldun International in 1996, where he started as a Mechanical Engineer.
“From there, I went to DT Peer, through that avenue I met Rick Blake. In 2001, I started with Integrity Design, who shared a building with Edgewater Automation. They were our first customer. I worked with Rick, Rob Blake, Steve McNabb, and Jimmy Pantelleria ,” he recalls.
After his firm was phased out of that project, Rick landed at Microfil, a pharmacy automation company that Rick Blake was involved in at that time. “When Rick sold the idea off to a third party and got investors involved, I went to work for Eagle Technologies until I came to Edgewater,” Rick says.
“If you surround yourself with good people, you can accomplish anything.” That’s why Edgewater has been so successful. We have so many good people, we can’t help but be successful. I love doing what I do because I have so much respect for the team. And everybody cares.
“People think the grass is always greener…until you live it, you don’t know you have it. I’m now convinced I have it so good, I can’t imagine wanting to do anything else. I just absolutely love being part of what’s happening down here. I feel very fortunate and blessed to be here,” Rick says.
