Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • European Rubber Journal
  • Plastics News
web
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • ITEC
    • Automotive
    • Tire
    • Non-Tire
    • Suppliers
    • Silicone
    • Latex
    • Coronavirus
    • Executive Action
    • Government/Legal
    • Opinion
    • Technical Notebooks
    • International Elastomer Show
    • Women in Tire & Rubber
    • HEXPOL Sponsored Content
    • Goodyear recognized by Lockheed Martin as 'elite supplier'
      EV tire advancements to help secure future
      Lambillotte: Only question on AVs is timing
      CAR official says EV future brighter than autonomous
    • Smithers webinars focus on performance materials in green tires
      Ford to close 3 plants, end production in Brazil, costing $4.1 billion
      Study: Vehicle buyers cling to familiarity amid pandemic
      Kumho launches commercial LT, performance tire lines
    • Smithers webinars focus on performance materials in green tires
      Ferentino Tyre opens Sri Lanka plant; eyes exports to U.S., Europe
      Kumho launches commercial LT, performance tire lines
      Taiwan tire makers propose settlement of import duties case
    • JobsOhio funding gives Sperry & Rice room to grow
      TRAC's Glenn Maidment caps 51-year rubber industry career
      LafargeHolcim looks to solidify U.S. presence with Firestone Building Products purchase
      Hankook Tire holding company adopts Hankook & Co. identity
    • Smithers webinars focus on performance materials in green tires
      Endurica earns prestigious Tibbetts Award from SBA
      Kuraray to raise elastomer prices again
      Synthomer optimistic, raises earnings forecast
    • Safic-Alcan extends distribution agreement with Momentive
      Momentive aims to grow silicone presence in Asia-Pacific region
      IRP Medical solidifies portfolio with KDL deal
      Rubber lab services firm Ace reports record year
    • ASTM cancels April meetings as COVID-19 continues impact
      Paycheck Protection Program funding reopens Jan. 15
      Detroit Auto Show canceled; alternative event being planned for September
      Top Glove reopens COVID-hit factories with enhanced precautions
    • Jack Murphy joins Akron Dispersions
      Adriano Alfani named Versalis CEO
      Maroon Group adds to Southeast sales team
      ASTM taps rubber executive as new board member
    • Paycheck Protection Program funding reopens Jan. 15
      Taiwan tire makers propose settlement of import duties case
      Lobbying group unveils policy agenda to speed transition to EVs
      NADA, bank group to assess political contributions after U.S. Capitol siege
    • Column: Pandemic looms over everything in life, business in 2020
      Column: Lessons from the 2020 Best Places to Work
      Editorial: Silicone hit hard by pandemic, expected to bounce back
      Column: Still far way from normal
    • Effects of multiple repurposed materials for reinforcements of standard rubber compounds
      Impact of peroxide blends on the cure rate and aged properties in HNBR
      Techniques to detect long chain branching in polymers
      A comparative study looking at effects of curing kinetics and batch variation on SBR injection molding and numerical analytics
    • WORD panelists say evolution, authenticity keys to success
      IEC keynote: Communication key to logistics
      IEC speaker: Specialized elastomers may reduce spread of life-threatening pathogens
      Rubber Division seeking abstracts for Spring Technical Meeting
    • WORD panelists say evolution, authenticity keys to success
      New video celebrates women in rubber industry
      ITEC panelists say women can thrive in tire industry
      Rubber Division planning second Women of Rubber event
    • Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Faster Access to Your Polymer Compounding Experts Around the World
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Take a walk thru a HEXPOL Lab
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      HEXPOL offers a unique selection of High Performance Elastomers to match your application requirements
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      It’s what you can’t see that makes the Difference at HEXPOL
  • Blogs
    • Products
    • Wacky World of Rubber
    • New Products: MonTech introduces 1,500 kN lab press
      New products: 3M introduces new durable, pliable medical adhesive
      New Products: Lanxess launches energy-efficient PU elastomer
      New Products: MonTech automates bale cutter for safety, productivity
    • Wacky World of Rubber: How Trelleborg, teens sealed a spot in the world record book
      Wacky World of Rubber: Of chicken and feet, but not chicken feet
      Wacky World of Rubber: Time to go mattress shopping
      Wacky World of Rubber: Because nothing says football like 'frunk' shrimp
  • Newsletters
    • Rubber in Automotive
    • Silicone News
    • Latex News
    • Sign Up for Newsletters
    • Smithers webinars focus on performance materials in green tires
      Ford to close 3 plants, end production in Brazil, costing $4.1 billion
      Study: Vehicle buyers cling to familiarity amid pandemic
      Kumho launches commercial LT, performance tire lines
    • Safic-Alcan extends distribution agreement with Momentive
      Momentive aims to grow silicone presence in Asia-Pacific region
      IRP Medical solidifies portfolio with KDL deal
      Rubber lab services firm Ace reports record year
    • Jack Murphy joins Akron Dispersions
      Synthomer optimistic, raises earnings forecast
      Top Glove reopens COVID-hit factories with enhanced precautions
      Malaysia electronics group to enter rubber gloves sector
  • Multimedia
    • Videos
    • Photo Galleries
  • Directory
  • Resources
    • Classifieds & Mold Mart
    • Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Sponsored By HB Chemical
      The Company Behind the Inventory
      Sponsored By French Oil Mill Machinery
      Process Improvement, Cost Reduction with Custom Press Systems
    • Sponsored By Uncountable Inc.
      Cooper Standard deploys lab informatics platform to synchronize R&D
      Sponsored By Elkem
      LSR Select™: A solution to improve your financial impact in molding applications
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Peroxide Cureable Silicone Injection Molding
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Understanding and Selecting Performance Additives for Rubber Compounding
  • Data
  • Events
    • RPN Events
    • RPN Livestreams/Webinars
    • Industry Events
    • Past Events
    • ITEC Library
    • International Silicone Conference Library
    • 2021 Healthcare Elastomers Virtual Edition
      2021 Rubber in Automotive Virtual Edition
      2020 International Silicone Conference Virtual Edition
      2020 ITEC Virtual Edition
  • Advertise
  • DIGITAL EDITION
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
September 26, 2017 02:00 AM

Manufacturing job numbers on the rise in some areas

Claire Bushey
Crain's Chicago Business
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    Stephen J. Serio, Crain's Chicago Business
    Jim Fitzgerald is CEO of Flexan, a manufacturer of silicone components for medical devices that recently moved operations to Lake County, Ill.

    LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill.—CEO Jim Fitzgerald says "curb appeal" partly drew his company to Lincolnshire, in the Chicago suburbs, and there's no question contract manufacturer Flexan has lots in common with the neighbors.

    Started in 1946 by three brothers who made rubber sanding pads for Sears, Flexan generates more than $50 million annually making silicone components for medical devices like pacemakers and defibrillators. It employs some 740 workers spread among facilities in Chicago, Utah, China, Elk Grove Village and its new Lincolnshire plant in Lake County—north of Chicago—which became Flexan's headquarters in April. The company will close its Elk Grove factory in Illinois' Cook County next year.

    "Lake County was an easy choice for us because of the number of medical device companies that are currently headquartered there, as well as our ability to recruit technicaltalent," Fitzgerald says.

    A strong market for the wares of those device-makers is why, when statewide manufacturingemployment clocks in at 16 percent lower than its prerecession high in Illinois, Lake County has recovered to within 1 percent of the 51,700 workers the industry employed there in 2008. Will County, southwest of Chicago, has done even better: Last year manufacturing employment surpassed the high it hit in 2008 by 3 percent. The industry employed almost 22,000 in the county in 2017's first quarter, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    That sets Lake and Will apart from Cook and the remaining Chicago-area blue collar counties, where manufacturing employs far fewer workers than it did in 2006. There were roughly 186,000 workers in manufacturing in Cook County in 2016, nearly a quarter fewer than a decade earlier. McHenry, with a smaller base, saw a drop of 26 percent to 14,500.

    In DuPage, which boasts the largest labor pool after Cook, factory sector employment dropped 9 percent to 54,400, while in Kane the headcount is down 8 percent.

    At a time when President Donald Trump touts manufacturing as the key to creating middle-class jobs, the statistics illustrate how deeply it matters not just whether a region or municipality makes goods, but what it makes. Peoria County, former hometown to heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar, lost 40 percent of its manufacturing jobs between 2006 and 2016 as the company's sales followed commodity prices south.

    Lake County, on the other hand, is not solely medical equipment, but that's one of the largest clusters, says Kevin Considine, CEO of economic development firm Lake County Partners. The largest is pharmaceuticals.

    Drug makers Abbott, AbbVie and Baxter are headquartered there, with AbbVie operating a factory in North Chicago while Baxter has one in Round Lake making products "from penicillin to pre-filled IV bags." Though the recession certainly touched the county, he says, "we're very fortunate to be deep in sectors that weathered that well."

    The Chicago metro area is following the nationwide downturn in manufacturing jobs, said Michael Jasso, chief of the Cook County Bureau of Economic Development. For a century, Cook County has been the regional industry center, but that means "a larger predominance of older and . . . less resilient industries," like steel making, metal fabrication and machine manufacturing.

    Manufacturing probably won't employ as many workers in the future as it has in the past, Jasso says. But the industry will continue to create jobs further down the supply chain.

    In fact, researchers in Illinois found that 21 percent of workers displaced from manufacturing moved into transportation and logistics, more than any other sector.

    "Manufacturing historically was important," he says. "It will continue to be important to the region, and the county, and the city, but it will look different than it did 50 to 100 years ago."

    In Will County, economic development specialists say there's no single factor driving the rise in manufacturing employment. Certainly, the county has taken its lumps. Caterpillar has shrunk the workforce at its Joliet plant from 770 in 2015 to 475 now, with the plant scheduled to close in 2018. But small and midsize companies are relocating from elsewhere in the region, attracted by the county's low taxes and thriving distribution and logistics industry, says John Greuling, CEO of the Will County Center for Economic Development.

    Magenta LLC, a plastics injection molding company, moved from Chicago to Lockport, Ill., in 2016, bringing at least 70 jobs with it.

    Distiller Diageo North America added 100 in Plainfield, Ill., in 2013, and Julian Electric moved 300 employees into a new corporate headquarters in Lockport.

    "The underlying transportation infrastructure that we have, you can't take that for granted," says Doug Pryor, vice president of economic development at the Will County center. "It's vital to these guys to get raw material in and to get product out."

    Taken together, manufacturing employment in Cook and the surrounding counties shrank 16 percent in the decade between 2006 and 2016, the same as the state overall. But as Cook County's Jasso said, while he'd always prefer growth in his own patch, "if I can't have it in Cook County, I'd rather see it in Lake or Will" than outside the region completely.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Rubber & Plastics News wants to hear from its readers. If you want to express your opinion on a story or issue, email your letter to Editor Bruce Meyer at [email protected].

    SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Rubber & Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe Today

    Subscribe to Rubber & Plastics News to get the best coverage and leading insights in the industry.

    SUBSCRIBE
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter

    MISSION

    To serve companies in the global rubber product industry by delivering news, industry insights, opinions and technical information.

    web
    Contact Us

    2291 Riverfront Pkwy, Suite 1000
    Cuyahoga Falls,
    OH 44221

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1726

    Resources
    • About Us
    • Digital Edition
    • Contact the Staff
    • Advertise
    • Order Reprints
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    • Terms of Service
    • Careers
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Partner Sites
    • Tire Business
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Plastics News
    • Plastics News China
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Automotive News
    • Crain Brands
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • ITEC
      • Automotive
      • Tire
      • Non-Tire
      • Suppliers
      • Silicone
      • Latex
      • Coronavirus
      • Executive Action
      • Government/Legal
      • Opinion
      • Technical Notebooks
      • International Elastomer Show
      • Women in Tire & Rubber
      • HEXPOL Sponsored Content
    • Blogs
      • Products
      • Wacky World of Rubber
    • Newsletters
      • Rubber in Automotive
      • Silicone News
      • Latex News
      • Sign Up for Newsletters
    • Multimedia
      • Videos
      • Photo Galleries
    • Directory
    • Resources
      • Classifieds & Mold Mart
      • Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
    • Data
    • Events
      • RPN Events
      • RPN Livestreams/Webinars
      • Industry Events
      • Past Events
      • ITEC Library
      • International Silicone Conference Library
    • Advertise
    • DIGITAL EDITION