Professional Cases From Chicago, Illinois

Platt Luggage, Inc. is a manufacturer of professional cases for business and industry. Our mission is to lead the industry by providing quality products, superior customer service, technical innovation and on-time delivery.

Platt Luggage is the first company to introduce combination locks on luggage, cushioned handles, custom hardware and urethane pallets. We were the first to mold bowling bags from plastic and the first to mold plastic end shells on catalog cases, a technology breakthrough at the time.

Delta Institute to Reveal Report at Sept. 10 Forum, and Present Path to Significant Cost Savings

CHICAGO – Cook County manufacturing firms could save hundreds of millions of dollars annually, increase employment in the sector, protect the environment and make their processes and equipment more effective if they implement changes that Chicago’s  Delta Institute recommends. Delta’s new report shows manufacturers the way to become more competitive as energy costs continue to rise, and reveals how some firms have already responded to recommendations.

Delta’s CEO Jean Pogge will present the report, “Energy Efficiency and Cook County Manufacturers: An Unrealized Opportunity,” during a public forum co-sponsored by Delta Institute and the University of Chicago’s Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies. The panel discussion will occur Monday, Sept. 10, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at the Gleacher Center, 450 N. Cityfront Plaza in Chicago.

The evening’s panelists include Todd Rusk, associate director, energy and sustainable business programs, Business Innovation Services at University of Illinois. Also, Howard Skolnik will describe the impact of energy efficiency changes on his steel drum firm, Skolnik Industries. Delta’s Tom Cushing will serve as moderator. Tickets for the forum are $15 and are available online at http://tinyurl.com/9vaol28.   

Companies in Illinois and across the country are continuing to face a shortage of workers that are properly educated and trained for the variety of manufacturing employment opportunities. Most manufacturers report a lack of skilled labor as critical challenge today.

Manufacturers use on-the-job training programs to re-focus their workforce on the desired manufacturing talents needed. A recent article in USA Today titled, "Training Cutbacks Thwart Jobless" discussed the fact that companies are cutting outside training programs for lack of funds, ultimately making the skills gap even worse. However, it is important to note that affordable training programs are still available.

WaterJet Precision Designs from Ringwood, IL

Rapid WaterJet Design is a full service WaterJet Company capable of cutting just about any type of flat material. Ideal for short runs or prototype parts with no expensive tooling or set up charges

Manufacturing companies increasingly face two challenges. On the one hand, there is pressure to reduce costs because of competition from low-wage countries. And on the other hand, customers are reducing order sizes and increasing the variety of the parts that they order, even including more custom (non-repeating) parts. So how do you deal with low-volume, high-variety production while at the same time reducing your costs? The answer is a strategy called Quick Response Manufacturing, or QRM.

Leatherhead Firefighter Tools in early 2007: Dasco Pro, Inc., a quality hand tool manufacturer since 1922 and one of the last remaining hand tool forging companies in the United States, turned their attention to the tools being used by fire and rescue personnel.
After visiting several firehouses nearby in Rockford (IL) and consulting with area firefighters, they realized that there were many professional firefighters, rescue personnel, and departments, and municipalities looking for innovative products at a better price. Dasco Pro believed that they could bring value to this underserved market by designing and developing superior quality tools that would be manufactured and assembled in the USA, using American steel, still the world's finest. Within a year, Dasco was ready to introduce a full line of Fire and Rescue products -- axes, sledges, hooks, and forcible entry tools - that merged the first quality of their forged steel with innovative, hi-density, hi-visibility handles designed to improve durability and reduce the number of tools lost in smoky, low visibility situations. It was a special tool line worthy of a new name - a name that would express the toughness and durability built into them. A name that would mean something to the professionals that would use them. The product line was named Leatherhead Tools.
Some of our top products include: flat and pick axes, pike poles, sledge hammers, halligan bars, and New York hooks.

Several new Buy America Opportunities are being issued by NIST-MEP for the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration. If you are a U.S. manufacturer currently making these or similar items, or have the capability to make these, and would like to pursue the opportunity, please contact IMEC.