About Us
The EFI Group, LLC
One of the key differences between EFI Group and other engineering consulting firms is that the members of our team have spent most of their careers in production, maintenance, and engineering positions within many manufacturing organizations. This diversity enables EFI Group to assign the right resources to efficiently and effectively design, develop, and implement optimum solutions for projects requiring:
- Manufacturing Process Improvement
- Maintenance/Reliability Engineering
- Capital Project Scoping and Development
- Project Cost Estimating
- Project Management
- Plant Layout Optimization
- Machine Design
- Lean Manufacturing
- Financial Analysis
Ken Parezo, P.E.
Senior Engineer, Managing Partner
Ken is the founder of EFI Group, and brings over 30 years of industrial experience to the EFI team. In 1999, Ken left a mid-Atlantic A&E consulting firm to start EFI Group. Prior to that, he spent 12 years as an engineering and Maintenance Manager for the Nevamar Corporation, a manufacturer of high pressure and solid decorative products with worldwide distribution. Ken was also with the Ellicott Machine Corporation, a manufacturer of dredging and mining machinery. Ken holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts and a M.S. from the University of Maryland.
Bill Ballard, P.E.
Project Manager, Partner
Bill has over 35 years of project management and manufacturing process design experience in several industries. Since joining EFI in 2001, Bill has managed a host of multi-disciplined projects. He also maintains EFI Group’s Project Management and Lean Manufacturing standards. Prior to joining EFI, Bill led capital project evaluation, capital expansion and manufacturing improvement planning activities for a major chemical company. Previously, he held line positions in manufacturing and maintenance. Bill is a Mechanical Engineering professional, and holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Baltimore.
Company History
In his position as Engineering and Maintenance Manager for a large manufacturer, Ken Parezo routinely hired engineering consultants to supplement his staff and to expedite project development and implementation. Ken found these firms to be fairly effective when his team defined the approach and solution to a problem. However, Ken grew frustrated at the firms’ inability to dig into manufacturing problems and develop creative, viable, and cost effective solutions. Ken recognized the place in industry for a group of seasoned professionals who could step into a client’s shoes and solve real-world challenges.
In 1999, Ken Parezo established EFI Group to fill this need by providing a pool of experienced engineering and manufacturing professionals ready to make an immediate, positive, and permanent impact on client operations. Every team member has extensive experience working in manufacturing environments and clearly understands the profit and loss implications of engineering and manufacturing management decisions. We approach projects with an owner’s view, constantly evaluating the value of a project by asking “Would we spend our money on this project?” We start every project with the end goal and value in mind, and then put our expertise to work developing and implementing successful and cost effective manufacturing improvements.
EFI Group is committed to assigning the best resources to every project whether they are internal or located in partner organizations. Over the years, EFI Group has developed a strong network of relationships with other engineering and professional organizations: the result is a full-service operation with the keen attention of a small consultancy. Our staff’s extensive project management experience ensures our partners are a seamless extension of EFI Group’s organization — and our organization a seamless extension of yours.