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September 2008 :: Volume 47 | |
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Chicago by the Numbers Read More |
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New Eco-Friendly Plant on City's South Side Cargill, a global provider of food, agricultural and risk management products & services, recently announced the groundbreaking for a new manufacturing facility on Chicago's South Side. The plant that will produce BiOH brand polyols, a soybean-based foam used in polyurethane furniture cushioning, bedding, automotive seats & building insulation. Read More |
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Barry Callebaut Opens First U.S. Chocolate Academy Barry Callebaut, the world's leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa and chocolate officially opened its first U.S. Chocolate Academy alongside its new North American headquarters at 600 W. Chicago. Read More |
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Chicago Makes Strong Showing on Inc. 5000 List Inc. magazine's 2008 list of the 5,000 fastest growing companies in the U.S. hit newsstands in September, and Chicago-area companies have earned considerable bragging rights. Overall, the 14-county Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) earned a #5 rank among all U.S. metro areas for the number of local companies making the list. Read More |
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New Eco-Friendly Plant on Chicago's South Side
Cargill, a global provider of food, agricultural and risk management products & services, recently announced the groundbreaking for a new manufacturing facility on Chicago's South Side. The plant will produce BiOH brand polyols, a soybean-based foam used in polyurethane furniture cushioning, bedding, automotive seats & building insulation. The July 8th press release touts the new facility as the first world-scale bio-based (traditional polyols are petroleum-based) polyols plant, expanding Cargill’s existing production capacity. The $22-million facility will be located on Cargill's existing 80-acre site at S. Torrence Avenue and 122nd Street. The site is already home to an Industrial Oils & Lubricants facility currently employing 25 people and a Salt Terminal that employs 11. The new 40,000-square-foot BiOH facility will add 12 permanent jobs, ranging from hourly skilled/technical labor to management positions, when it begins operations in November 2008. Bio-based polyols offer performance benefits including consistent quality, increased comfort, superior UV stability, low odor and improved load-bearing capacity. End users of BiOH polyols include furniture companies that sell products through Crate & Barrel and Macy's; producers of select carpet cushions sold at Home Depot; and Ford Motor Company, which will use BiOH in the seats of the 2009 Escape. Beyond their performance advantage, Cargill's BiOH products offer a more environmentally sustainable alternative to traditional petroleum-based polyols. Preliminary analysis indicates that their manufacture reduces global-warming emissions by 36% and use of non-renewable energy by 61%. For every 1 million pounds of BiOH polyols that replace their petroleum-based counterparts, 2,200 barrels of crude oil are saved. According to product line manager, Yusuf Wazirzada, "BiOH products meet several of the Green Chemistry Institute's 12 Principles of Green Chemistry, including a renewable feedstock, less hazardous chemical syntheses and non-toxic intermediates." Since commercial sales began in mid-2005, BiOH has earned many awards, including: Cargill describes Chicago as an "ideal site" for the new facility, given it is both a transportation hub and located "in the heart of the Midwest soybean acres." Cargill is also taking advantage of the intellectual capital at its existing Chicago operations by leveraging the technical and business expertise of the Industrial Oil and Lubricants operation, which also involves soy-based products. The location will further the company's goal of better serving the growing North American and European markets for its BiOH products. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Cargill employs 158,000 workers in 66 countries. For more recent news from Cargill, please visit: http://www.cargill.com/news/news_releases/current_year.htm. PAGE UP  |
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Barry Callebaut Opens First U.S. Chocolate Academy Barry Callebaut, the world's leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa and chocolate, officially opened its first U.S. Chocolate Academy alongside its new North American headquarters at 600 W. Chicago. The Chicago Chocolate Academy, a training center for professional chocolatiers, joins nine others around the world. It is part of Barry Callebaut's commitment to building its business in North America and strengthening its relationships with leading artisans and chefs in the United States. Last year, Callebaut moved its North American headquarters from Quebec to the facility in the former Montgomery Ward catalog building, bringing approximately 70 executive jobs to Chicago. The company has more than doubled the size of its Chicago office, to about 27,000 square feet, to make room for the state-of-the-art training center. "We moved our North American head office to Chicago because it is an excellent location for doing business with North America and the world," said Massimo Garavaglia, President for the Americas, Barry Callebaut. "Chicago is a vibrant city that is well situated in the U.S., providing easy access to both coasts and the Midwest. Combined with a talented labor pool and strong culinary focus, Chicago was a natural choice to house our first U.S. Chocolate Academy." "Chicago is one of the dining capitals of the world so we are pleased that Barry Callebaut selected Chicago for its first Chocolate Academy in the United States," said Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. "The culinary professionals who will travel from around the world to take part in the Chocolate Academy will draw attention to the diversity and vitality of our dining scene, and Barry Callebaut will employ nearly 70 hard-working residents of our city." The Chocolate Academy is the only one of its kind with worldwide locations, offering a diverse range of seminars, demonstrations, theoretical courses and practical workshops designed to inspire artisans and culinary professionals, including pastry chefs, confectioners, bakers and caterers, from around the globe. Award-winning French pastry chef, Jerome Landrieu, will serve as technical advisor for the Academy. "We are pleased to welcome Barry Callebaut, and its first U.S. Chocolate Academy to our distinguished list of international companies that call Chicago home," said Rita Athas, Executive Director of World Business Chicago. "We look forward to welcoming culinary professionals from around the world with Chicago's dynamic spirit, and to engaging Barry Callebaut in our international business community." Barry Callebaut Chocolate Academies worldwide host approximately 500 chocolatiers, confectioners and chefs each week. In total there are 12 Academies located around the world. Locations include: Wieze, Belgium; Meulan, France; Lodz, Poland; St. Hyacinthe (Quebec), Canada; Singapore; Zurich, Switzerland; Banbury, United Kingdom; Suzhou, China; Mumbai, India; Zundert, Netherlands; Chekhov, Russia. PAGE UP |
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Chicago Makes Strong Showing on Inc. 5000 List Inc. magazine's 2008 list of the 5,000 fastest growing companies in the U.S. hit newsstands in September, and Chicago-area companies have earned considerable bragging rights. Overall, the 14-county Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) earned a #5 rank among all U.S. metro areas for the number of local companies making the list. Within Chicago itself, 62 companies made the list, up from 47 companies in 2007. The balance of the metro region -- suburban Cook County plus 13 other counties in Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana -- posted 119 companies, up from 108 last year. The list ranks privately held, independent U.S. companies -- it excludes subsidiaries or divisions of larger companies -- on revenue growth from 2004 to 2007. Companies must have earned at least $200,000 of revenue in 2004 and at least $2 million in 2007 to qualify for consideration. City of Chicago The 62 Chicago companies in the 2008 Inc. 5000 represent more than 9,800 employees and $2.24 billion in revenue during 2007. The highest ranking went to #8 Zorch International, an online portal that puts corporations directly in touch with manufacturers who provide merchandise such as pens, bags and mugs branded with their corporate logos. Posting revenue growth of more than 10,000% since 2004, Zorch also earned #1 rankings on Inc.'s Top 100 Business Services Companies and Top Companies Run by Women lists. Twenty-seven Chicago-based companies also appeared on both the 2007 and 2008 Inc. 5000 lists, with interactive marketing firm Manifest Digital making the biggest one-year gain: up 702 places from #1,454 to #752 with 465% growth. Among the 35 companies that made their debut this year, #13 BlueStar Energy Services topped the list with nearly 7,000% revenue growth since 2004. BlueStar, an independent retail supplier of electricity to residential and commercial customers, also earned the #2 spot on the Top 100 Energy Companies list. One other company, INCISENT Technologies -- led by CEO Patrick Ryan, Jr., a World Business Chicago Board Member -- made a Top 100 industry list. It secured the #4 spot on the Top 100 Software Companies list with three-year revenue growth of just over 2,300%. The best-represented industry groupings in the City of Chicago were IT Services (13 companies), Business Services (11), and Advertising & Marketing (7). Suburban Chicago The 13+ counties of suburban Chicago are home to more than two thirds of the metro area's population and nearly 97% of its land area. It should be no surprise then that the suburbs can claim an even larger number of Inc. 5000 companies in 2008 -- a total of 119. These companies account for 21,950 employees and $4.53 billion in revenue. Topping the list was #26 Premier Payment Systems, with three-year revenue growth of nearly 4,800%. Premier provides payment processing for corporations, multi-location businesses, small local businesses, non-profits and utilities. It was also suburban Chicago's highest-ranking debut on the 2008 list and ranked #1 nationally among financial services companies. The biggest gain in rankings among the suburbs' 42 repeat listings was Royal Buying Group, which skyrocketed 2,779 spots to #102 this year. The company operates in the merchandising and marketing field, providing convenience store supply chain management, as well as marketing and fulfillment of gift card products. Its strong performance earned it the #6 spot on the Top 100 Retail Companies list. The best-represented industry groupings in suburban Chicago were Business Services (18 companies), Manufacturing (12), and Human Resources (10). To view the complete list of 2008 Inc. 5000 companies, please visit http://www.inc.com/inc5000/. PAGE UP |
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World Business Chicago 177 N. State Street, Suite 500 Chicago, Illinois 60601 www.worldbusinesschicago.com |
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