For Mike Flynn, manager of DuPage Precision Products, the importance of manufacturing in Illinois should be selfexplanatory and self-evident.
“Manufacturing is a core industry, like farming. You’re doing valueadded; you’re changing something. You’re making something substantial. Everyone who’s an accountant or a lawyer or works in retail or food service depends on a core industry.”
He said many more careers, including health care and education, depend on serving a population gathered around productive industries.
“If you take all those farming and manufacturing jobs in Illinois, what will happen to the other jobs? They will go where those core industries are,” Flynn told TMA News recently.
Mike Flynn is the third generation of Flynns who have focused their time and energies on building a precision machining business in Chicago’s western suburbs. His grandfather, Phil Flynn, and his business partner, John Schroeder, started the company in 1950.
Today, Mike’s father, Dennis Flynn, and his grandfather’s partner’s son, Mike Schroeder, own DuPage Precision Products. The company employs 59 people and machines precision parts for the military, construction, mining, and railroad industries.
The younger Flynn worked at the family-owned business after his high school senior year and on Christmas breaks during college. He graduated with no debt after participating in Navy ROTC in college. He then served active duty in the US Navy Reserves for five years, and eventually joined DuPage Precision in 1996.
“My wife and I wanted to be closer to family, and both of our families were from the area,” he said. With five children of their own, the Flynns continue to thrive.
Flynn said DuPage Precision’s work involves creating precision parts for Caterpillar engines and generators, and the pressures third-generation businesses most often come from outside those entities.
External pressures such as inflation, supply chain disruptions, pandemics, and volatile interest rates are some of the biggest challenges small and midsize manufacturers face.
Not only are home buyers affected by higher interest rates, but Caterpillar orders diminish when interest rates climb, which affects the work of companies like DuPage Precision. Interest rates influence decisions Caterpillar customers make, he said.
“Interest rates affect companies asking themselves if it’s the right time to buy equipment. An equipment loan might be correct.
if the interest rate is 4%. It might not be correct if it’s at 7%,” Flynn said. “Just a few percent can make all the difference. They may choose to delay buying if it costs so much to borrow. That affects Caterpillar’s demands on us.”
Those “external forces” are one reason Mike Flynn develops relationships with federal, state, and local elected officials.
Recently, Congressman Bill Foster visited DuPage Precision, allowing Mike, his father Dennis, and an employee to share the challenges and rewards of leading a manufacturing company in Foster’s district.
Foster, who owned a family-run manufacturing company, was interested in hearing how DuPage Precision handled the challenges imposed by “external sources.”
“The visit was absolutely worthwhile,” Mike Flynn said. “It gave us an opportunity to show him what we do in this district, how we contribute to the area, and discuss possible solutions.”
Flynn said he’s had several discussions with state and local officials and has experienced firsthand the value of being directly involved in the Illinois Republican Party. He has held three volunteer positions, including township committeeman and district deputy on the IL GOP’s State Central Committee.
He says he’s involved in party politics because he has seen the effect of one-party control on state public policy and how regulations can be stacked against employers and certain industries in Illinois.
“Illinois has super majorities in the chambers and the governor’s office, so what do we do? You work as hard as you can to try to be reasonable as much as you can, but you just have to basically sit and wait for the next shoe to drop,” Flynn said.
“Could anybody look at the finances of Chicago and say that they’re going in the correct direction? If you look at the outcomes of the school system, can you say that it’s going in the correct direction?”
At the same time, these same government entities are demanding more and more from businesses like DuPage Precision while using what they’ve taken on wasteful and misdirected projects.
All of that can be discouraging for those whose families and their legacies are located in Illinois.
“We work to get the message out to 102 Illinois counties, and hopefully they will engage and influence those making decisions in Springfield that will determine the state’s financial future,” Flynn said.
So not only is Mike Flynn actively working towards a future of growth and expansion for his family business by directing the company’s day-to-day operations, but he’s also compelled to reach out beyond the walls to his community’s political environment.
For him, it’s not just about the status of his family and its business; it’s about the present condition of his community, his state, and their future.
“If you take all those farming and manufacturing jobs in Illinois, what will happen to the rest of the community? They will go where those core industries are,” Flynn repeated.
Mike Flynn hopes to do all he can to keep those jobs and people in Illinois.
More about DuPage Precision at www.dupageprecision.com
First published in TMA’s Spring 2025 News Bulletin. Written by Fran Eaton.
