FAIRFIELD, ILL. – Governor Bruce Rauner visited with the employees of Elastec’s Fairfield oil containment boom facility on a recent tour of southern Illinois manufacturing businesses. He was greeted by a team of Elastec production leaders, office staff, and executives at the 211 North Market Street location.
Elastec Marketing Director Linda Henning gave Governor Rauner a presentation of the company’s history and its innovative water pollution control products. Established in 1990, Elastec manufactures a broad line of oil spill recovery equipment, portable incinerators for medical and drug waste disposal, floating geosynthetic boom for trash and debris control, work boats, and vacuum systems. Henning showed various videos of products that are in use in Illinois as well as in 155 countries.
A video of Elastec’s Omni Catamaran work boats was shown in Chicago skimming “floatable trash” from the Chicago River. The Rockford Police Department was also featured in a video using the company’s Drug Terminator, a portable incinerator for the disposal of drug evidence and take-back pharmaceuticals. Rockford is among 43 law enforcement agencies in Illinois combating the opioid crisis and other drug abuse by destroying drugs on-site safely and economically.
Fairfield Production Supervisor Bryant Cole led Governor Rauner on a tour of the facility and described the manufacturing process and purpose of oil containment boom. Cole explained that the boom can be as small as a few hundred feet to contain an oil spill in a stream or a river, or it can be thousands of feet long for deployment in the ocean. Elastec’s Cocoa, Fla. manufacturing facility also makes geosynthetic containment boom and turbidity curtains for trash, debris, and sediment control. The Florida location, formerly known as American Marine, was founded in 1967. The Elastec aluminum fabrication plant is located in Carmi, Ill. where the majority of the mechanical oil spill recovery equipment, work boats, vacuums, and incinerators are made.
“We owe it to companies like yours [Elastec] that are bringing manufacturing in Illinois into the modern era to step up the business friendliness of Illinois,” Rauner said. “This state has so many desirable assets in transportation, distribution, technology — and a tremendous workforce.” Henning reinforced the Governor’s praise of southern Illinois’ workforce by stating, “A business can protect its products with patents and trademarks, but a company’s greatest asset is the ‘know-how’ and work ethic of its employees.”