Manufacturing network seeks to boost industry

Central Illinois manufacturers of products from commercial coffee makers to high-tech circuit boards for agricultural equipment have formed their own networking organization.

The Central Illinois Manufacturing Roundtable organized in early 2015 primarily focuses on industry issues such as supply-chain efficiency, quality control, risk management, international sales, employee training and marketing. But a regional manager for the group said the roundtable also was formed to highlight the continued importance of manufacturing as a regional industry.

"We have companies that are in consumer products, metal working and that are food-related," said Rob Newbold, regional manager for the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center, online at imec.org.

The federally funded not-for-profit, established in 1996, works with small and mid-sized manufacturers statewide from offices in Peoria and Chicago. The network for central Illinois manufacturers is a pilot program for the state, said Newbold, and is intended to concentrate on the particular needs of small and mid-sized companies.

As many as 30 companies -- including Springfield names such as Bunn-O-Matic and Nudo Products Inc. -- have participated in the first year, including through a series of tours of local manufacturing facilities.

Bunn-O-Matic produces commercial and consumer beverage products, including coffee makers, and Nudo produces laminated products for the building and design industries. Newbold said the goal is to eventually create regional manufacturing roundtables statewide.

"Other states have done this quite successfully for a number of years," Newbold said.

Despite recent high-profile layoffs by major manufacturers such as Caterpillar and Mitsubishi, the Illinois Department of Employment Security projects manufacturing as one of the fastest-growing job categories statewide through 2022, after education and health care, retail trade, and professional and business services. Mining and publishing jobs are expected to be among the slowest.

Filling what are high-tech, skilled jobs remains an industry challenge, said Tyler Aring, chief operations officer for CCK Automations in Jacksonville.

"We do talk about trends, and what we see in the workplace," said Aring, "and what companies are doing with training and to reach outside the local area to get candidates who not only want to work, they want to work in our area."

CCK Automations, an early member of the manufacturing roundtable, employs nearly 70 in the production of circuit boards and custom electrical panels, primarily for the agricultural industry. Founders J.J. and Sherri Richardson started the company with four employees and a 14,000-square-foot facility in 1999. The company moved to its current 100,000-square-foot facility in 2012.

Aring said the company often hires workers as temporaries, just to get an idea how they will work out before offering full-time jobs.

"We're in electronics manufacturing. Some will love it, and some say, 'I can't do this,'" Aring said.

He said members of the roundtable also learn from each other how to improve manufacturing processes. CCK Automations added a stand-up meeting of department heads each morning after watching the practice at DICKEY-john Corp., an agricultural electronics manufacturer in Auburn.

"It makes sure everybody is on the same page," Aring said. "It's the one chance in the day, a person from every department has a chance to get together and share information."

A 10-county region of central Illinois, including Sangamon and surrounding counties, saw manufacturing employment drop by 15.3 percent from 2004 to 2014, according to an economic development analysis by Ameren Corp. for The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce. The same report predicted a 13 percent increase over the next decade.

Much of the growth in manufacturing jobs, according to the Ameren analysis, will be in the food industry, machinery, fabricated metal, computers and electronics, and plastic and rubber production.

Land, interstate access and workforce availability are all important to attracting or expanding manufacturing, said Josh Collins, director of business and community development for The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce.

"They have gotten so specialized, they know where they need to be in terms of cost, right down to the ZIP code," Collins said.

Small and mid-sized manufacturers are expected to create many of the new jobs, said Newbold, including as suppliers to big names such as Caterpillar and John Deere.

"It's not hundreds of jobs," said Newbold, "but if they hire one or two, you eventually get significant growth."

 — Contact Tim Landis: tim.landis@sj-r.com, 788-1536, twitter.com/timlandisSJR.

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Where the jobs are

Projected industry employment growth in Illinois through 2022:

* Health care-education: 23 percent.

* Professional-business services: 16.2 percent.

* Retail: 10.1 percent.

* Manufacturing: 9.3 percent.

* Tourism: 9.2 percent.

* Financial services: 6.3 percent.

* Government: 5.8 percent.

* Wholesale trade: 5.2 percent.

* Transportation-warehousing-utilities: 5.1 percent.

* Other services: 4.8 percent.

* Construction: 3.4 percent.

* Information-publishing: 1.6 percent.

* Natural resources-mining: 0.2 percent.

Source: Illinois Department of Employment Security