State Representative McDermed Visits Provisur

Mokena, IL…. Representative Margo McDermed, along with the Mayor of Mokena, toured Provisur’s headquarters in Mokena on Wednesday. Provisur is a worldwide leader in manufacturing food processing, slicing, grinding, forming, and packaging machines.

Founded as Formax in 1970 by Lou Richards in his garage in Mokena, the company took off after partnering with McDonalds and creating a hamburger patty forming machine that could make more than one at a time, which was the standard at the time. The company moved around in Mokena before settling in to their current headquarters at the manufacturing plant Rep McDermed toured in 1992. Since then the company has grown and was brought under the umbrella of Provisur, a company that houses six of the leading food processing brands.

“I have known about Provisur and its reputation in the community for years” Rep McDermed said. “This was my first chance to see their impressive facilities and the new Ingenuity Center where customers can create their ideal machine line right on the spot.”

The plant in Mokena employs 212 people. The company, along with others in the field, is looking to open a food manufacturers school in conjunction with DeVry and ITT Tech to compensate for a workforce that lacks the necessary mechanical knowledge and skills. Provisur and other leading companies have pledged to hire the first 100 graduates.

“I loved seeing how proud everyone, from the plant manager to the technicians, is of their machines and their work” Rep McDermed continued.

The tour was part of the Illinois House GOP’s ‘Made in Illinois’ initiative which seeks to highlight unique and vital companies that manufacture products here in Illinois.