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Recently, the Arts and Entertainment television network compiled a list of the 100 most influential people of the past 1000 years. The rankings were determined by a panel of scholars, scientists, historians, comedians, business people, and a host of others. In that list were names such as Galileo, Copernicus, Shakespeare, and Gates (Bill). The person at the top of that list might be surprising to most people- not, however, to the 1,075,355 people employed in the printing industry in the U.S. Johan Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press topped all the other thinkers and scientists. His invention made the current printing industry possible. Over 2,400 companies in the Chicago-Cook County region have taken his idea and established Chicagoland as the printing and publishing capital of the world.
According to the Printing Industry of Illinois/ Indiana Association, in the metro Chicago area there are 2,423 printing establishments that employ nearly 61,000 people. The annual sales of these companies total over $8,270,000,000!|
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10% of all periodical employment occurs in the Chicago Cook region
Like most industries, the printing and publishing sectors are able to thrive in part because of the diverse business infrastructure in Chicago-Cook. A list of companies including Midland Paper, Geo International, Comdisco, Crain Communications, McDougal Littel, Viacom New Media, Rand McNally, and R.R. Donnelley and Sons have, over the years, relied on the region's skilled labor force, excellent transportation, telecommunication infrastructure, access to raw materials, and world renowned universities. Over 50% of printed items in the Midwest are derived from a 200 mile radius of Chicago-Cook County.
Some benefits to printing and publishing in the Chicago-Cook region:|
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The Transportation Industry
O'Hare International and Midway airports in Chicago provide business with the nation’s best access to national and international air routes. O'Hare ranks number one in the world in passenger travel, third in U.S. cargo volume, and fifth in international cargo volume. O'Hare’s Cargo City covers 240 acres, with 1.2 million square feet of facilities. More than 140 domestic and 30 international non-stop destinations are available.
The Chicago-Cook County location offers excellent access to North America’s interstate highways. Major east-west routes include I-90/94 and I-80. Major north-south routes include I-55, I-57 and I-65. Illinois has over 2,000 miles of interstate highways.
The Chicago-Cook County region has the nation’s largest rail hub, with 14 freight lines and 11 trunk rail lines. The area is the world’s leading intermodal port , served by 21 intermodal facilities and 19 container depots, handling 8.8 million containers annually. Rail traffic between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico is booming.|
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International Trade Alliances
Chicago-Cook County has a global infrastructure of business development organizations that assist small and medium sized businesses. Chicago-Cook County has a trade alliance with the region of Emilia Romagna, Italy and is developing new trade partnerships with Songiang/China, Cork County/Ireland, Santiago/ Chile and Flanders/Belgium.|
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World Renowned Education
Well-known universities, such as Northwestern, DePaul and the University of Chicago, produce talented and skilled graduates. The University of Illinois at Chicago Electronic Visualization laboratory leads into the future of the printing industry and has a history of innovative contributions to the computer graphics field. The faculty and students developed the hardware and software that were used to create the computer animation in the first Star Wars .
Fourteen community colleges produce graduates with graphic arts and technological skills. Kennedy-King College in Chicago has one of the Midwest=s premier desktop publishing programs and is one of the few community colleges in Illinois offering electronic pre-press courses.
As the educational arm of the Printing Industry of Illinois/ Indiana Association, the Printing Industries Institute offers technical and management skills training to 1,500 students annually at suburban and downtown locations.|
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