Photo furnished
Tino Oldani (left), president of Ingersoll Machine Tools, speaks with Rex Walheim, NASA astronaut, during a tour held at Ingersoll Machine Tools in 2017.

•August 22, 2018•

By Chuck Sweeny
Rockford Register Star

Many Illinoisans don’t realize it, but our state is a center of aerospace and aviation technology.
Illinois’ aerospace cluster is centered around the northern and northeastern portion of the state. The Rockford area alone has more than 70 companies in the aerospace supply chain employing 7,000 people, says the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
If you include Chicago and southeastern Wisconsin, “there are more than 200 companies in the aerospace cluster, including giants such as AAR Corp., Northrop Grumman and Boeing,” DCEO says.
Illinois is home to prime contractors and subcontractors that together supply the U.S. military, NASA, Boeing, Airbus and smaller airplane manufacturers with numerous systems and components.
In fact, it’s been estimated that there’s no commercial jet in the air today (apart from those made in Russia) that does not have Illinois-made parts and systems on it.
Why northern Illinois? Sagar Patel, president of aircraft turbines at Woodward Inc. in Loves Park, explains.
“Over time we have built the ecosystem here, with companies that planted their roots here long ago and have adapted to the changing technologies successfully,” says Patel.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.