Former Motorola Facility Now Providing Hundreds of Advanced Manufacturing Jobs in Illinois and Wisconsin
HARVARD, Ill., May 30, 2024 — U.S. Medical Glove Company (USMGC) — the only American manufacturer of the machines, components, and chemicals necessary to make nitrile gloves in the United States — marks its first anniversary in June at a previously dormant 350-acre high-tech manufacturing facility on the Wisconsin-Illinois border in Harvard, IL.
USMGC employs hundreds of workers at the facility, including engineers, chemists, supply chain experts, welders, electricians, CNC technicians, forklift operators, landscapers, general laborers, and other support staff who contribute to the company’s mission to make the United States a self-reliant, world leader in nitrile glove manufacturing. Currently at the Harvard facility, USMGC has 10 nitrile-glove production lines in operation and an additional 21 production lines under assembly, providing a total capacity of 2.48 billion nitrile gloves per year. This is in addition to the machines it has built, sold, and now services for American allies and partners in strategic locations around the world.
“Without the local support, brain power, sweat equity, and raw talent of the greater Harvard, Illinois community,” says Alex Todoroki of USMGC, “what we’ve accomplished so far to secure the health and security of our medical providers, first responders, athletic trainers, and school lunch heroes, would not be possible.”
USMGC moved its team, consisting of over 200 members, to the former Motorola factory in June 2023, bringing American-made machines, technology, and supplies to the 1.8M square-foot industrial site that previously lay vacant for 20 years. To transform the site into a high-tech manufacturing hub, USMGC has heavily invested in full-time USMGC employees and local Midwestern vendors to rehab electrical work, HVAC, plumbing, security, telecommunications, landscaping, and other critical systems. In under a year, these construction crews have recycled and reindustrialized the facility into several strategic sectors, including sites for:
- Glove production
- Machine production
- Mask filament production
- Nitrile stockpile
- Administration and R&D
- Industrial outdoor storage
“We knew the abandoned factory left a huge hole in the community and was about more than just dollars and cents,” says Todoroki. “It’s why we’re doing more than just handing out paychecks. With our program of workforce benefits—that includes hardship loans, rental assistance, emergency savings accounts, and daily catered lunches— we’re providing high-quality manufacturing jobs that Americans can be proud of.”
Motorola opened the facility in 1997 to build cellphones before closing the plant in 2003. At its height, the facility employed 5,000 people. The grounds include an 1100-seat cafeteria, 500-seat auditorium, two heliports, two daycares, a fitness center, trails for running and biking, and 7,000 parking spots.
USMGC’s growth was made possible by funding from the US Government and Administration for Strategic Preparedness & Response’s (ASPR) mission to re-industrialize American manufacturing. Specific funding and support is secured by the Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services, and ASPR.
“Our mission is much larger than producing gloves, masks, and the machines that make them,” says Todoroki. “We are part of the movement to build capability by Americans for America. We don’t see ourselves as simply a manufacturing company. We are an engineering company, a chemicals company, a technology company. We are everything it takes to on-shore the ability to produce products vital to this country’s health and security.”
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