‘A big maker of things’: Manufacturing evolves into ‘key’ economic driver in McHenry County

Much of McHenry County’s manufacturing grew from small shops and garages.

Simple ideas, big dreams and a bit of tinkering has evolved into what has become the county’s key economic driver.

Yet, in many ways, the industry remains an unknown.

“I kind of joke around and say we make products you use every day, but you never actually think somebody made them,” said Scott Jessup, vice president of strategy and technology at Jessup Manufacturing Co. in McHenry.

Jessup’s grandfather, the late Paul Jessup, started the company in 1956 in his garage. At the time, he worked as a salesman for a leather converting company. He wanted his own business so he could spend more time with his family. He’d make genuine leather welts – the piece of leather that runs along the outsole of the shoe – and book binding.

That company now employs more than 100 people in two manufacturing facilities, including a Lake Bluff location, and produces materials found in thousands of products worldwide. Jessup is best known for its griptape, which is basically an adhesive sheet that helps skaters stay on their boards.

Products such as non-slip tapes, adhesive-coated films, photoluminescent materials and graphics media might not mean much to the average consumer, but Scott Jessup describes the value behind them: “We make the world a safer place to work and play.”

What the company does has evolved far beyond what Paul Jessup ever imagined.

“[Paul Jessup] lived a nice, long life,” said Scott Jessup, who now helps run the company alongside his brother, Robert Jessup, who is president and CEO. “Toward the end, he’d come in our shop and make the comment, ‘I’m not even sure what all you guys do here now.’ ”

It’s a similar story at other manufacturing companies rooted in McHenry County. Many grew from humble beginnings to become among the area’s top employers. And they continue to grow.

‘Made here’

Manufacturing makes up the largest sector in the county, producing 63% of the county’s goods and services, said Jim McConoughey, president of the McHenry County Economic Development Corp.

“We’re a big maker of things, and there’s a broad range of companies,” he said.

Plastics. Metal. Canned goods. Processed foods. Health care products. The list goes on and on.

“It’s a wide array of everything that people use in America and abroad that are everyday items, but they’re made here,” McConoughey said.

For instance, Newsweek recently recognized McHenry County’s Medela as the “Most Trusted Breast Pump Brand” for North America for the fifth year in a row. When the company came to the U.S., it was originally located in Crystal Lake before moving to McHenry in 1999 and adding a distribution center in Elgin in 2014.

With 515 employees in McHenry, Medela assembles and packages breast pumps and hospital pumping kits, as well as products and equipment used in the neonative intensive care unit and clinical settings.

“Others in our category look to us,” said Jeff Castillo, executive vice president for Medela Americas. “They replicate our technology and leverage the research we fund to develop products elsewhere in the world.”

Over at Scot Forge in Spring Grove, products created by heating up metal and shaping it into various parts – metal forging – have ended up everywhere from the bottom of the ocean to the outer limits of space.

The wheels and backshell plate of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory rover that landed on Mars in 2012 were manufactured by Scot Forge.

“In little Spring Grove, Illinois, we put the wheels on the Mars rover, which is crazy,” said Riley Schmucker, marketing communications specialist for the company.

The 130-year-old, employee-owned company began as four brothers from Scotland working in a small hammer shop in Chicago in 1893. Now based in Spring Grove, Scot Forge has five facilities throughout the country and 500 employee-owners. The company also hosts a student learning program, giving teens ages 16 to 18 the opportunity to learn skills while still attending high school.

Despite programs like these, those in the industry have said both the concept of manufacturing and the jobs the industry offers remain a bit elusive.

Efforts such as a Manufacturing Pathways Consortium and McHenry County College Workforce Development aim to change that.

Founded in 2019, the consortium is made up of 200 local manufacturers, educators and community partners working together to strengthen the employment pipeline within the manufacturing industry. At the same time, McHenry County College continues to expand upon training programs, apprenticeships and internships to both raise awareness of and prepare students for careers in manufacturing.

‘A lot of work being done’

“I think manufacturing is currently misunderstood,” Jessup said. “People often think manufacturing in the U.S. is dead, or they imagine factories from the turn of the century. Both of those can’t be further from the truth. Manufacturing is thriving, and much of our equipment is automated and computer-controlled.”

Jessup hosted 10 high school students last summer as part of a rotational internship program offered through the Manufacturing Pathways Consortium. Through the partially grant-funded program, students are paid to work with one company for five weeks before transitioning to another for the final five weeks.

One of many efforts underway, the program provides students a hands-on opportunity to see what manufacturing looks like in this county, said Catherine Jones, associate vice president of workforce development at MCC, which serves as a convener of the consortium.

The jobs aren’t dark, dirty or dangerous. They involve highly technical skills, lab coats and office jobs. They encompass everything from classic manufacturing positions to engineering, marketing, accounting, finance, human resources, information technology and sales.

This summer, 22 employers will host high school students, Jones said, with at least 112 applications for the internships submitted so far.

“I think manufacturing is our key economic driver in this county,” Jones said. “It is not known to the degree that we might expect a key economic driver to be known, but there is a lot of work being done.”

MCC offers numerous degrees and certificates in the manufacturing area designed for students to gain an education and move into the workforce within two years or fewer, and MCC’s job board, Hire a Scot, helps connect students and employers.

About 25% of the area’s employees in manufacturing are 55 and older, Jones said.

“We’ve got a lot of work going on to make sure we’re ready with the next generation of talent,” she said.

Through the consortium, job-seekers can access a common hiring application, which allows them to explore manufacturing jobs and make their interest known without having to submit a resume.

“We remove all barriers,” she said.

While vast, the opportunities in manufacturing also can be rewarding, Jessup said.

Through a partnership with Nike, his company created ReCon, the first-ever anti-slip tapes and treads made with post-industrial rubber recycled from footwear.

“Not only do we make the world a safer place to work and play, we’re also trying to save the world and help people reduce their carbon footprint,” he said.