Crain’s spotlights aerospace cluster, why Woodward chose Illinois

CHICAGO, July 12 — Woodward not only attracted more than 1,500 local visitors earlier this month with its ribbon cutting at its new Rock Cut Campus in Loves Park. It also garnered the attention of at least one Chicago media outlet.

Crain’s was interested in the Rockford Region’s growing importance as part of an aerospace cluster and Woodward, which dates back to 1870 in our area.

The story starts, “When aerospace manufacturer Woodward invested $250 million on a new factory outside Rockford, the decision ran counter to the narrative that beleaguered Illinois is doomed to miss out on industrial projects that inevitably flow to lower-cost states.”

Woodward CEO Tom Gendron was quoted on the reasons why: “… the firm didn’t decide to grow near Rockford out of a sense of civic duty. It looked all over the country and fielded offers from other states that were ‘very aggressive, no doubt about it,’ and better, in many ways, than what Illinois offered.”

Read the full story here.

See the Woodward coverage here.