What Sharpe Engineering & Equipment does

Sharpe Engineering & Equipment, LLC is a privately-held B2B engineering services firm founded in 1994 and headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, with a secondary office in Amherst, Wisconsin. The firm operates in an 11-50 employee band and delivers single-source responsibility for food and beverage processing capital projects — from concept and 3D design through fabrication, installation, and commissioning — serving enterprise food manufacturers primarily across the U.S. Midwest. Sharpe has completed more than 10,000 projects and accumulated over 1 million engineering hours across its 30+ year history.

The company's service portfolio is organized around six capability areas: Project Management & Engineering, Packaging System Integration, Fabrication & Installation, Sanitary Process Systems (CIP/COP, 3A/USDA/FDA-compliant process piping), Material Handling Solutions, and Automation & Controls (Rockwell/Allen-Bradley PLC programming, HMI/SCADA, device integration). Underlying tooling includes Revit for 3D modeling, AutoCAD for P&IDs and process flow diagrams, and Rockwell platforms for control system programming. Sharpe addresses 12 vertical markets, with primary emphasis on Dairy & Cheese, Fresh Produce, IQF (Frozen), and Prepared Foods, and secondary coverage of Bakery, Confection, Meat/Poultry/Seafood, Beverage, Sauces & Condiments, Ingredients, Spices & Seasonings, and Snacks. Named customers include Bernatello's (pizza plant expansion) and Fair Oaks (protein packaging upgrade); Urschel is a documented co-development partner for a test lab facility.

Revenue mechanics are project-based, with no publicly disclosed pricing or financial metrics. The firm operates an enterprise field sales motion — Director of Technical Sales, Account Managers, Sales Engineer, and Inside Sales — supported by a project-based professional services model with multi-year contract cadence for capital projects. Sales channels are exclusively direct; no resellers, distributors, or digital marketplace presence are used. The firm is founder-controlled (Gene Scherr, Founder & Senior Vice President), privately capitalized with no institutional investment or M&A activity in its history.

Name

Sharpe Engineering & Equipment

Legal name

Sharpe Engineering & Equipment, LLC

Website

https://sharpeengineering.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Sharpe Engineering & Equipment is a privately-held, Wisconsin-based B2B engineering services firm founded in 1994 that delivers turnkey design, fabrication, and integration services for food and beverage processing facilities, serving enterprise manufacturers primarily across the U.S. Midwest.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Sun Prairie

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Engineering & Project Management Services: Custom engineering design, project management, and consulting services for food and beverage processing facilities. Services include preliminary engineering, execution engineering, system design, and commissioning support.
2. Packaging System Integration: Integration of packaging systems including equipment specification, installation, and commissioning of automated packaging lines.
3. Fabrication & Installation: Custom fabrication of equipment and installation services for food processing systems, including fabrication and installation team execution.
4. Automation & Controls Integration: Design, programming, and integration of electrical and control systems including PLC, HMI, and SCADA programming.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Sharpe Engineering & Equipment delivers custom engineering design, fabrication, installation, and project management for food and beverage processing facilities. It integrates processing, packaging, sanitary, material handling, and automation/control systems for food manufacturers across twelve industry verticals, acting as a single-source integrator from concept and scope development through system design, fabrication, on-site installation, and commissioning.

Product overview

Sharpe Engineering & Equipment is a food and beverage engineering firm founded in 1994 that provides custom engineering solutions and system integration services. Rather than a single software product, the company offers a portfolio of engineering and integration service offerings: Project Management & Engineering (covering scope development, design, and execution), Packaging System Integration (custom packaging solutions with robotics and vision systems), Fabrication & Installation (custom-built equipment), Sanitary Process Systems (including CIP/COP), Material Handling Solutions (conveyance and storage), and Automation & Controls (PLCs, HMIs, SCADA). These services are delivered across 12 food industry market segments including Dairy & Cheese, Fresh Produce, IQF/Frozen, Prepared Foods, Bakery, Confection, Meat/Poultry/Seafood, Beverage, Sauces & Condiments, Ingredients, Spices & Seasonings, and Snacks. The company serves as a single-source integrator managing projects from concept through installation and commissioning.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Project Management & Engineering Comprehensive project management and engineering services covering scope development, system design, project execution, installation support, scheduling, and milestone tracking for food and beverage manufacturing facility projects. Designed for food and beverage manufacturers undertaking capital projects that need a single point of accountability.
• Packaging System Integration Integration of new and existing packaging equipment into cohesive, harmonized packaging lines, including equipment specification, custom system design, automation, robotics, and vision system integration for food and beverage manufacturers.
• Fabrication & Installation Custom in-house fabrication of food processing equipment and systems, plus on-site installation services. Built with precision using high-quality materials and construction methods designed for durability, sanitation, and ease of maintenance at food processing facilities.
• Sanitary Process Systems Design, implementation, and optimization of sanitary process systems including CIP (Clean-in-Place) and COP (Clean-out-of-Place) systems, process piping, pasteurization, filtration, heat exchange, and related automation. Compliant with 3A, USDA, and FDA sanitary design requirements for food and beverage manufacturing facilities.
• Material Handling Solutions Engineering solutions optimizing raw material intake, storage, distribution, and finished product handling to streamline the movement of goods within food processing facilities. Includes conveyance systems, bulk handling, and storage infrastructure designed for food industry requirements.
• Automation & Controls Advanced control and automation technologies including PLC programming, HMI development, SCADA systems, device integration (PLCs, VFDs, temperature sensors), and system optimization for food and beverage processing operations, primarily on Rockwell Automation / Allen-Bradley platforms.

Quantifiable outcome

• Pizza plant expansion: 30% capacity increase (23M to 30M pizzas annually)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments12 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• UrschelcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSharpe partnered with Urschel (a leading food processing equipment manufacturer) to design and build a comprehensive test lab featuring integrated Comitrol systems. Sharpe provided turnkey custom solutions including tanks, pumps, pipe panels, platforms, bulk handling systems, and CIP controls to complement Urschel's core processing machinery, creating a complete demonstration and testing facility.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Stellar: Stellar is a design-build firm specializing in food processing facility engineering, construction, and integration — directly comparable to Sharpe's single-source integrator model serving dairy, frozen, prepared foods, and beverage customers.
• Matrix Technologies: Matrix Technologies is an industrial automation and process control system integrator delivering PLC, SCADA, and plant-floor solutions to food, beverage, and consumer products manufacturers — overlapping Sharpe's automation & controls and sanitary process capabilities.
• Interstates: Interstates provides industrial engineering, electrical construction, and control system integration for food and beverage producers — comparable to Sharpe's electrical engineering, automation, and project execution services.
• E Tech Group: E Tech Group is a control system integrator providing PLC, HMI, SCADA, and MES solutions to food, beverage, and life sciences manufacturers — competing with Sharpe's automation & controls and project execution scope.
• Burrow Global: Burrow Global is an engineering, procurement, construction, and maintenance services firm with food and beverage project experience — offering multi-discipline engineering and integration comparable to Sharpe's PM, fabrication, and controls services.
• Avanceon: Avanceon is a multi-regional industrial automation and systems integration provider serving food, beverage, and process manufacturers — comparable to Sharpe's PLC/SCADA integration and project management scope.
• Food Plant Engineering, Inc. (FPE): FPE provides engineering, design, and project management services specifically to food processing clients — a niche peer directly comparable to Sharpe's food-only vertical focus and single-source integrator model.

Broad incumbents

• Gray Construction: Gray is a large design-build firm with a dedicated food and beverage market group delivering turnkey processing and packaging facilities — a larger incumbent offering overlapping engineering, integration, and construction services to Sharpe's customer base.
• Rockwell Automation: Rockwell Automation is the dominant industrial automation platform supplier on which Sharpe's PLC/HMI/SCADA work is built; its services arm and partner ecosystem overlap with Sharpe's automation & controls offering at a much larger scale.
• Emerson Automation Solutions: Emerson is a broad industrial automation incumbent providing process control, valves, and instrumentation used across food and beverage plants — competing indirectly with Sharpe via OEM-direct integration services and partner channels.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sharpe-engineering-equipment

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sharpe Engineering & Equipment