Woodward to Hire More Workers

Loves Park, Illinois - The past few years have been tough for local manufacturing plants. Several have had to close or move operations overseas. But Woodward in Loves Park continues to be a success story. In fact, the company has plans to hire more than 50 workers Woodward is the number one independent designer and manufacturer of aircraft fuel control systems in the world and Kirk Snyder, Director of Operations, told WTVO that business is good. "Woodward has been very successful in winning new programs on all the new aircraft that are coming out. In addition, the public is flying a lot more and people are buying a lot more airplanes, so Woodward is a feeder in that whole system," said Snyder. The company is looking for skilled machinists, assembly and test technicians and a variety of engineers. Woodward is holding a job fair on Wednesday, July 26 and Wednesday, August 3 at their North Second Street location in Loves Park. From 4pm to 7pm, people can come to the facility, take a tour, fill out an application and talk to leaders about possible job opportunities. While many of the jobs require a person with experience, the company says they are willing to train. They`ve been focusing on educating and hiring high school and college students, hoping to inspire young people to get into the industry. Aside from paid internships, students willing to work for Woodward, while getting a degree in an engineering-type field, may be able to have the company pay for their education. Jeff Sherman, Woodwards Manufacturing Manager hopes interested applicants will come and take a tour to see for themselves what working for Woodward is like. "I think theyll see that there really are good opportunities here. Theres some well paying jobs with benefits and a clean working environment. These are highly skilled, technical jobs," said Sherman.