Economic Alliance: Manufacturing is vital to local economy

Kankakee County always has been a place that works. That was evident in the Economic Alliance of Kankakee County’s annual report given in January to the Kankakee County Board.

Tim Nugent, president and CEO of the Economic Alliance, said Kankakee County is still a manufacturing community, noting there are 8,465 manufacturing jobs in the county that account for $933 million in annual salaries and benefits with an economic output of $5 billion.

“The old myth that we don’t create anything, and we don’t make anything anymore is just not true,” Nugent said. “… We are a manufacturing community whether people want to believe it or not.”

The 8,465 manufacturing jobs make up nearly 20% of the total workforce in Kankakee County, which is ranked No. 5 among small manufacturing hubs in the United States by Business Facilities magazine in its 2022 Metro Rankings.

“We make a lot of products,” Nugent said. “We make a lot of things here in Kankakee County. … We all remember the companies that might have moved out in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. They’re gone, but new people have come in and replaced them. Those jobs have been replaced, and they’re making products that are wanted today and are sold [as] products of the 2020s as opposed to products of the 1980s.”

Some of those manufacturing companies listed in the Economic Alliance’s slideshow presentation were CSL Behring, Silva International, Crown, Shoup Manufacturing, Millipore Sigma, Nucor, Rise Baking, Sherwin Williams, J.R. Short Snack Products, Peddinghaus and Plochman’s, among others.

“These companies produce products that are made and shipped all over the world,” Nugent said. “We export over $1.6 billion of products throughout the world every year out of Kankakee County, and these are the companies that do it.”

Also in the Economic Alliance’s report, Kankakee County was ranked as the No. 1 best small community for carpenters, No. 2 for law enforcement and No. 6 for nurses by AdvisorSmith Solutions, a business research firm in New York, N.Y. These rankings were based on cost of living, job availability and wages.

“These are things that different magazines, different companies that do surveys about the area [to] try to find what areas are leading in certain fields in certain areas,” Nugent said. “We’re very highly ranked for a small metropolitan area for a number of different job descriptions.”

Kankakee County also is becoming a manufacturer of green energy in the forms of solar and wind power. The report noted there are 48 solar and wind projects that have been permitted in the county, and some of them have been built. When fully completed, these projects will have the potential to generate energy for more than 250,000 homes.

“Energy is going to be a real product of the future, and it’s great to be an energy hub,” Nugent said. “Right now, there’s about 45,000 homes in Kankakee County, so we are going to be creating power for more than five times the homes in Kankakee County. Obviously, that power is going to be shipped all over the Midwest, but becoming a manufacturer of clean energy is really helping put Kankakee County on the map.”

The report also revealed that Kankakee County is an economical place to live with a cost of living index of 92.1% of the U.S. average, according to The Council for Community and Economic Research. That means that out of $100 in the average community, it costs $92.10 in Kankakee County.

“Some people will look at that as a negative, but we look at it as a positive,” Nugent said. “That means you can come here, you can get a great livable wage. You can buy homes at a livable price, you can raise your family at very livable wage or livable expenses.”

Best Small Community:

No. 1 for carpenters

No. 2 for law enforcement

No. 6 for nurses

Source: AdvisorSmith Solutions Inc.

Small manufacturing hubs (Small Metropolitan Statistical Area)

1. Elkhart, Ind.

2. Sheboygan, Wis.

3. Lima, Ohio

4. Decatur, Ill.

5. Kankakee

6. Owensboro, Ky.