Rockford Manufacturer Gerald Whitfield Reshores Production From Overseas Suppliers

Gerald Whitfield, founder of Rockford-based precision components manufacturer Whitfield Machine Works, announced plans to bring production of several core product lines back from overseas suppliers, a shift expected to add roughly 65 manufacturing jobs at the company's northern Illinois facility.

Whitfield founded the company 21 years ago as a small machine shop serving aerospace and automotive clients, gradually shifting a portion of production to overseas contract manufacturers over the past decade to remain price-competitive on certain component lines. Rising shipping costs and increasingly unpredictable delivery timelines from overseas suppliers pushed Whitfield to reconsider that strategy.

"We chased the lowest unit cost for years and didn't fully account for what happens when a shipment gets delayed six weeks and your customer needed the part yesterday," Whitfield said. "Bringing this back in-house costs more per unit, but it means we actually control our own delivery schedule again."

The company is investing approximately $11 million in new automated machining equipment at its Rockford facility to offset some of the labor cost difference from reshoring production, a strategy Whitfield said allows the company to remain price-competitive while regaining control over quality and lead times. The new equipment is expected to be operational within the next year.

Whitfield Machine Works currently employs around 190 people and serves primarily aerospace, automotive, and industrial clients. Whitfield said the reshoring decision was made easier by several major customers increasingly requiring domestic manufacturing for supply chain security reasons, a trend he expects to continue across the sector.