Illinois Chemical Industry
The chemical industry and associated business in Illinois is massive. Industries in Illinois that depend on the chemical sector include trade (51,757 jobs), business services (64,709 jobs), manufacturing (43,290 jobs), health care (28,289 jobs), transportation (20,466 jobs), and construction (8,000 jobs).
- Direct Employment: 52,000+
- Total Jobs supported by the Business of Chemistry: 347,000+
- Value of Industry Production: $25 billion
- Foreign Exports: $6.18 billion
- Manufacturing facilities: 745
- Chemical Distribution Facilities: 932
In all, the business of chemistry in Illinois generated $29.9 billion worth of chemistry products. US chemistry exports from Illinois totaled $6.18 billion in 2007. Illinois' well-trained workforce and its central location and excellent transportation links make the state an attractive location for chemical companies. Major companies include: Air Liquide, Akzo Nobel, BOC Gases, Carus Corporation, Exxon Mobile, Morton Grove Inc, Monsanto, Nalco Company, Sun Chemical. The chemical industry supports in some way virtually every industry, from medicine and medical equipment to agricultural products to plastics manufacturing. Few products can be manufactured without some input from the chemical industry.
Links:
Chemical Industry Council of Illinois: http://www.cicil.net/
School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/
American Chemical Society (10 Illinois chapters): http://www.acs.org
Illinois Plastics Industry
Illinois is an ideal location for plastic products because of its highly developed chemical industry and its immense supplies of natural gas. As plastics can be bulky to ship, plastics processing tends to be located near manufacturing operations, such as automobile and appliance assembly plants, making an industrial state like Illinois an ideal location. Illinois accounts for 5.4 percent of the nation’s exports of rubber and plastics products, ranking fourth among the states. Illinois’ strongest niches include plastics bottle manufacturing and unsupported plastics profile shape manufacturing.
- Employment: 59,200
- Number of facilities: 1,000
- Value: $10.7 billion
Large companies in the Plastics industry include Illinois Tool Works, Solo Cup, Alcan Packaging, Pactiv Corporation, Courtesy Corporation, Landis Plastics and Hoover Materials Handling Group
Links:
The Society of the Plastics Industry trade assn. (Midwest office): http://www.spimidwest.com/
Information and searchable database for suppliers and buyers: http://www.myplasticsindustry.com