In 2006, McHenry County Economic Development Corporation established a virtual Business Accelerator for Innovation & Collaboration (BAIC) to grow and retain businesses & create jobs by assisting the development and expansion of manufacturing companies in McHenry County by providing both business and technical assistance.
McHenry County is one of the fastest growing counties in the Chicago Metropolitan area. During the 1990 - 2000 periods the population grew at an annualized rate of over 4 percent and is expected to grow at an annualized rate of about 2.5 percent through 2015. While the county has experienced fairly rapid population growth, the growth in wealth creating industries has been much slower. Between 1990 and 2000, manufacturing employment in the county fell by almost 2 percent. This trend is not expected to reverse itself in the near future without significant intervention.
The creation of BAIC is providing support for the region developing manufacturing initiatives fostering an innovative infrastructure resulting in new companies being created and existing companies modifying their product lines, production capabilities and processes to meet the changing needs of the global market.
Four Objectives in the BAIC Manufacturing Initiatives:
- capture growth potential and advance R&D capabilities
- enhance and expand opportunities due to regional factors
- retain to sustain challenged sectors
- provide a vehicle to collaborate and engage in contract bundling
Strategies: McHenry County is one of the top ten counties in Illinois in the number of manufacturing and processing firms and has a manufacturing industry base of over 21%. There are approximately 600 manufacturers in McHenry County with over 70 manufacturing headquartered companies serving customers all over the world. The annual manufacturing payroll nears $1 billion and comprises over 26% of McHenry County's total payroll. 83% of the manufacturers in McHenry County employ less than 50 employees.
The most fruitful manner in which to strengthen our regional economy is to support existing businesses, both large and small, which will create new jobs through expansion. As the agricultural era in the early part of the 20th century recreated itself, the industrial era of WWII is now recreating itself into the knowledge-based era. This evolution requires new levels of services and business structures conducive to competition in a global society.
Six targeted NAICS code have been identified to impact the future employment in McHenry County. These six sectors in McHenry County either have projections that exceed or are less than those projections for the State of Illinois and/or the USA.
We are capturing growth potential and advance R&D capabilities in: Plastic Product Manufacturing (3261), Electrical Equipment Manufacturing (3353), Metalworking Machinery Manufacturing (3335).
We are enhancing and expanding opportunities due to regional factors in Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturing (3363).
We retain to sustain challenged sectors in Machine Shop & Threaded Prod Manufacturing (3327) and Industrial Machinery Manufacturing (3332).