About Us

Manufacturing is vitally important to Illinois' economy and residents, accounting for nearly one third of total state employment and 20% of the nation's manufacturing output. Two thirds of Illinois' $72 billion manufacturing output comes from the Northeast Illinois Economic Development Region, which is dominated by older, privately held companies with fewer than 100 employees. These small manufacturing companies are struggling with challenges related to products at the end of their life cycles, older inefficient manufacturing processes, shrinking customer bases, and ownership succession. Since 2000, the region has lost over 100,000 manufacturing jobs with a disproportionate impact upon workers who are minorities and women, many of whom are residents of low-income communities. While foreign competition contributed, a significant portion of the loss is attributable to failure of these businesses to adapt to a rapidly changing global marketplace.

Mission:

The Alliance for Illinois Manufacturing is a collaboration of tax-payer supported and non-for-profit organizations that leverages, coordinates, and focuses their collective resources into integrated solutions that transform Northeast Illinois manufacturers into globally competitive companies.

Vision:

The Alliance for Illinois Manufacturing impacts low income, economically disadvantaged communities in Northeast Illinois through the retention and growth of a high wage manufacturing employment base.

Challenge:

Northeast Illinois is losing well-paying manufacturing jobs because the manufacturers with the greatest need fail to access existing tax-payer supported resources that can assist in transforming them into globally competitive businesses. While more than 100 tax-payer supported financial and technical assistance programs are available to manufacturers in Northeast Illinois, these companies tend not to use these programs or contribute to their design. Consequently, these programs tend to be supply-side driven and fragmented, and manufacturers are either not aware they exist or view them as too burdensome to use. The Alliance's challenge is to create an effective public/private partnership that aligns and implements these programs to produce measurable change in a regionally focused, efficient, and transparent manner.

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