CHICAGO, IL / BIRMINGHAM, MI – Colfax Creek Capital and Rock River Capital Partners formed Fluence Automation to acquire the mail and parcel sorting business unit of Bell and Howell on July 31, 2017.    Fluence Automation is the leading manufacturer of mail and parcel sorting equipment, software, and services.  Fluence Automation has acquired POST Integrated Solutions (POST-IS), a parcel processing and material handling technology company serving the eCommerce, postal and parcel automation markets.

Strategically, the move further enhances Fluence Automation’s technology offerings and adds a dedicated team of professionals in the growing parcel delivery and eCommerce fulfillment automation markets, while the company continues to serve customers in traditional mail and postal sorting.

POST-IS and Fluence Automation have already worked closely together to serve customers. The combined entity has a comprehensive automation platform to provide high-speed parcel induction, encoding and data-automation solutions including scanning, dimensioning, weighing, address reading, variable-length, dynamic labeling and sorting technology.

“The addition of POST-IS complements our efforts in the surging eCommerce automation space and will help our customers reduce costs and delivery timeframes by increasing production speed in their eCommerce, mail and parcel processing, distribution and shipping operations,” says Mike Swift, president and CEO of Fluence Automation.

Jason Duzan of Colfax Creek added, “that Post-IS will provide new capabilities to accelerate Fluence Automation’s eCommerce and parcel automation growth”.

Rob Stone, founder and president of POST-IS, will join Fluence Automation and lead the Fluence business unit focused on eCommerce automation.

“We are excited to build on the success we’ve had at POST-IS over the past several years, now as part of Fluence,” says Stone. “The company has a strong, growing business with an outstanding suite of products, software, and technical support. I look forward to tapping the collective resources of the organization to provide expanded solutions for customers.”

About Colfax Creek Capital

Based in Birmingham, Michigan, Colfax Creek is a private investment firm that invests in “smaller” middle market companies. The firm focuses on consumer product, service, and industrial companies in the Great Lake states. Colfax Creek brings its investment expertise and collaboration with operating executives and entrepreneurs to build long-term businesses.  We develop relationships with business owners and management and focus our capital and resources with a shared purpose of creating lasting value. For more information, visit www.colfaxcreek.com.

About Rock River Capital

Rock River Capital is a Chicago-based private investment firm focused on investing in growing industrial and services businesses as well as other growth-oriented opportunities.  We generally prefer to partner with existing management in ownership transition situations and take a long-term, patient approach.  For more information visit: www.rockrivercp.com.

About Fluence Automation

Fluence Automation is an innovative technology solutions company that builds and markets mail and parcel sorting systems and owns a portfolio of mail and parcel labeling technologies that increasingly is being adapted for the e-Commerce fulfillment market. Fluence provides long-term support and customer care through its robust suite of software focused on vision/recognition and sorting applications, and a service support network that is based primarily in the U.S., with operating subsidiaries in the UK and Germany. For more information visit: www.fluenceautomation.com.