Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) visited Unicarriers America yesterday, attracted by its dedication to creating jobs in Illinois. Sen. Durbin toured the manufacturers facility, met with senior staff, and gave a companywide address followed by a Q&A session.
“What we see here at UniCarriers is not only a quality product that can compete on an international scale, but it’s being produced right here in America by Americans who are up to the job and task of competition,” Durbin said.
UniCarriers Americas president James Radous III highlighted the forklift industry’s impact on GDP and praised his employees’ contributions to the company and the products they build.
“Today, forklift manufacturing’s annual economic impact is over $25 billion in GDP,” Radous said. “And I should point out that $3.5 billion of it comes from the state of Illinois,” Radous said. “You are among over 200,000 American workers who affect the manufacture of forklifts and keep businesses moving every day throughout the Americas.”
UniCarriers Americas caught the attention of Senator Durbin recently, when Radous visited legislators in Washington to discuss the importance of safety in the workplace, the impact forklifts have on commerce and the creation of more Illinois jobs. Citing the industrial trucking industry as having its largest economic footprint in Illinois, Radous pointed out that whereas many manufacturers are replacing workers with robots, UniCarriers is bringing in more people to work and train alongside automation. The company has increased its automation capabilities by 50 percent while doubling its number of employees from about 300 to 600 during the past five years.
Durbin spoke highly of UniCarriers as a role model of a successful manufacturer doing business in Illinois. Leading the way with job creation, education initiatives for its employees, and creating a large local economic footprint attracted his attention.
Senator Durbin is the senior senator from Illinois and the second highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate.
UniCarriers America, a subsidiary of UniCarriers Corp., is the third largest forklift manufacturer in the world, the company said.
