Scot Forge plans to add offices, manufacturing

SPRING GROVE – Scot Forge is planning a major expansion at its Spring Grove headquarters that includes adding space for corporate offices and manufacturing.

The company, which makes metal parts for everything from airplanes to submarines, plans to add a three-story, 29,000-square-foot office building at 8001 Winn Road. Scot Forge also will add about 87,000-square feet of manufacturing space to the south side of its property.

The expansion will tack on nearly 120,000 square feet of space to the company’s existing 350,000-square-foot facility.

With the additional facilities, Scot Forge will be able to maintain a competitive edge in the global open-die and rolled ring forging industry, said Scott LaRose, a project engineer at Scot Forge.

The modern-looking office building would have a glass entrance tower and other features that would “accentuate the modernization we are going through,” Joseph Stadelman, principal architect and vice president at Angus Young, a Janesville, Wis.-based firm, told Spring Grove’s Architectural Review Commission at a special meeting Monday.

The additional manufacturing space would house heat-treating equipment and other machines used for finishing the products the company produces, LaRose said.

Scot Forge plans to add at least 15 jobs over the next several years as a result of the expansion. The company declined to say how much the expansion would cost.

Commissioners toured the exterior of the Scot Forge building during the meeting and gave company officials and architects directions on what colors and building materials they’d like to see used in the expansion. The commission plans to meet again Monday before making a formal recommendation on the designs to the village board.

Several commissioners pressed for details about the company’s future plans at the site and plans for the former Intermatic building next door. LaRose said Scot Forge isn’t planning to expand across the railroad tracks at this time.

Scot Forge has about 345 employees in Spring Grove and is one of McHenry County’s largest employers. The company, which is employee-owned, also has operations in Franklin Park, Clinton, Wis., New Castle, Pa., and Wayne, Mich. Started in 1893, the company has more than a million square feet of manufacturing space and ships more than 250 million pounds of forgings annually, according to its website.

Scot Forge is working with the village “to ensure that our plans meet our company’s  expansion needs, upgrade the site’s appearance in harmony with the community and represent our industry-leading position,” LaRose said.

Village President Mark Eisenberg said the village would work with the company as the project moves forward. Not only does the company employ many village residents, it also supports community events and other civic efforts.

“It means a lot to us,” he said. “I can’t say enough about how important Scot Forge is for the community.”

The expansion would likely bring more manufacturing jobs to the town and it could also generate additional utility taxes for the village, Eisenberg said. Scot Forge uses massive amounts of electricity to heat up metal for forging. The company’s energy use generates about $100,000 a year in utility taxes for the village.

“Scot Forge is an incredible asset to McHenry County’s economy,” said Pam Cumpata, president of the McHenry County Economic Development Corp. “And there is a great partnership between the company and the village to work collaboratively.”

Scot Forge

What: Scot Forge is an employee-owned manufacturer of custom open die and rolled ring forgings that serves major industries from the military and mining to transportation and manufacturing.

Where: 8001 Winn Road, Spring Grove

Phone: 847-587-1000

Website: www.scotforge.com