Illinois Manufacturers’ Association announces winner of “Makers Madness” contest

Posted on March 30, 2023
If you become a man or woman on the moon, you could be living in a creation from Rockford which has been named the “coolest thing made in Illinois” in the Makers Madness contest. (Twitter/Governor JB Pritzker)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – When we live on the moon, it could be in a structure made in Rockford. And that’s cool.

Ingersoll Machine Products’ Rosenberg moon habitat has won the 2023 Makers’ Madness contest, put on by the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association.

“Illinois’ world-class manufacturing industry is leading the charge as one of the top drivers of our continued economic success here in Illinois,” said Gov JB Pritzker beofre presenting the award. “When Covid-19 turned our world and our state upside down, it was you – our manufacturing industry. You kept our supply chains moving.”

Jeff Ahrstrom, CEO of Ingersoll – a Rockford-based, sixth-generation company – said we’d be back on the moon by 2025.

The bracket-style competition ended with the moon unit emerging from a Final Four that included a drug incinerator made in Carmi, the 77GHz Radar from Flora, and 17th Street barbecue sauce from Murphysboro.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…