10 fastest growing firms in Illinois

Environdyne Industies Inc. Chicago
CCC Information Services Inc., Chicago
Rymer Company, Rolling Meadows
Bio-logic Systems Corp., Mundelein
LyphoMed Inc., Rosemont
Simmons Airlines Inc., Chicago
JG Industries Inc., Chicago
XL/Datacomp Inc., Hinsdale
Great American Management and Investment Inc., Chicago
Stone Container Corp., Chicago.

Rankings are based on compound growth rate between 1982 and 1986. Small companies with specific market niches were doing well; so were service companies, especially computer firms and providers of information service — and so were manufacturing companies, especially those feeding into the service sector. In fact, 26 of the 50 fastest growing firms were in manufacturing.

Source: Crain's Chicago Business. Vol. 10., No. 34. August 24-August 30, 1987.

Post-industrial quizz question

What do these firms make or do?

Answers

Envirodyne Industries Inc. — Food packaging and food service supplies.
CCC Informational Services — data management.
Rymer Co. — markets meat, seafood and poultry; owns specialty food chain.
Bio-logic Systems Corp. — computers for medical diagnosis.
LymphoMed Inc. — manufacturers and supplies nutrients and injectable drugs.
Simmons Airlines Inc.—regional air carrier.
JG Industries Inc.— retail merchandizing operations.
XL/Datacomp Inc.— computer equipment supplies.
Great American Management and Investment Inc.— financial services and agricultural chemicals.
Stone Container Corp.— corrugated containers and other paper products.

Source: Crain's Chicago Business.

Putting corn into plastic bags

Agri-Tech Industries, Urbana, hopes to have biodegradable plastic garbage bags on the market within a year. The firm is using a process in which starch from corn is used instead of petrochemicals to make plastic film. Initially developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Northern Regional Research Center (NRRC) in Peoria, the process has been improved by Richard Wool, a professor of materials and science engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is helping Agri-Tech to further develop the product.

Source: NRRC, Peoria, and Professor Richard Wool, UI at Urbana-Champaign.

Waste and race

A study by the United Church of Christ's Commission on Racial Justice found that three of the nation's five largest hazardous waste landfills are located in primarily black or Hispanic communities. The study also shows that in communities with at least one waste dump, the average proportion of minority residents is 24 percent, twice the national average. Areas with at least two dumps had an average minority population of 38 percent.

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson said the site selection is based on technical considerations, not race.

Source: "For the Record." Sojourners. July 1987.

You can't win 'em all; sad tale from the Soviet Union

During Leonid Brezhnev's regime, the standard of living in the USSR greatly improved. People increased their consumption of fish, eggs, butter and meat. Since these foods were subsidized, Brezhnev depended on alcohol taxes to balance the budget. And Soviet citizens came through by quadrupling their consumption of booze.

In fact they drank so much vodka that their life expectancy began to decline.

When Mikhail Gorbachev came into office, one of his first reforms was a serious anti-alcohol campaign. It worked.

As a result, liquor tax revenues have collapsed, causing a national budget deficit. The surge in sobriety also threatens the pension system. Fiscal officers can no longer count on premature deaths from alcohol abuse to keep it sound.

Source: World Press Review. October 1987.

Fueling up in Illinois

Numbers vary, but one survey found that in 1984 the average Illinoisan of drinking age (defined as 14 or older) drank 2.77 gallons of pure ethyl alcohol — contained, of course, in a much larger gallonage of wine, beer or spirits.

That was less than in 1977 and ranked us 21st in the nation. Illinoisans liked beer best.

Source: George D. Williams et. al., "State, Regional and National Trends in Apparent Per Capita Consumption." Alcohol Health ands Research World. Summer 1986.

Illinois liquor tax revenues

Fiscal year 1985: $71,238 million
Fiscal year 1986: $68,988 million
Fiscal year 1987: $67,955 million

Source: Illinois Department of Revenue.

General funds

The general funds end-of-month balance in November was $28,812 million. The average daily available balance was $70,832 million.

Source: Office of the Comptroller.

Statistical anomaly in Illinois' work force stats?

In spite of the October 19 stockmarket crash, November's national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to a decade-low 5.9 percent. In Illinois seasonally adjusted unemployment was 6.8 percent, up from October's 6.6 percent.

The state's November work force consisted of 5.713 million people, with 5.322 million employed and 391,000 looking for work. The Department of Employment Security had expected a slight rise in unemployment but had also projected record high employment for the sixth consecutive month. Instead the number of people employed in November plummeted by 124,000 from October. The drop far exceeded the normal margin of error in the U.S. Census Bureau's monthly surveys of Illinois households on which the figures are based.

Final September unemployment rates in the state's metro areas were:

Aurora-Elgin, 4.2 percent.
Bloomington-Normal, 3.5 percent.
Champaign-Urbana-Rantoul, 3.6 percent.
Chicago, 5.8 percent.
Davenport, Rock Island, Moline (Illinois sector), 7.0 percent.
Decatur, 7.9 percent.
Joliet, 6.1 percent.
Kankakee, 7.7 percent.
Lake County, 3.7 percent.
Peoria, 6.3 percent.
Rockford, 7.9 percent.
Springfield, 4.5 percent.
St. Louis (Illinois sector), 7.8 percent.

Source: Department of Employment Security.

Margaret S. Knoepfle

January 1988 | Illinois Issues | 29