According to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), Illinois manufacturing accounts for more than 12 percent of of the state’s total economic output ($77 billinion in 2009) and accounted for 93 percent of the state’s exports in 2010. Manufacturing employs 12.6 percent of the state’s workforce. There were 14,722 manufacturing establishments in Illinois as of 2009. This represented a growth of 83 percent since 2003, 13 points higher than the national average of growth in manufacturing.

The top manufacturing sector in Illinois is machinery, much of which is farming machinery, followed by food and beverage, metal products, chemicals and coal and petroleum, according to NAM. Print materials such as books, electronics and plastics are also among the top things made in Illinois.

NAM reports that in addition to exporting manufactured goods to other states, Illinois also sends products to Canada, Mexico, China, Australia and Germany.

According to the Illinois Manufacturers Association, the Chicago Tribune reported in February that Chicago won a bid, run by the Defense Department, for a new $320 million digital manufacturing hub, to be funded by government and private money. They said the win will give the city “once a factory town, a better chance to re-establish its credentials as a modern maker of things.”

Check out this list of 10 cool things made in Illinois:

Illinois is the home of many manufactured products

Other cool things made in Illinois include potato chips, the first skyscraper, Oreo cookies, salad dressing, wine, popcorn, donuts, beer, wire, mustard, cars, credit cards–the list goes on and on.

10 cool products maded in Illinois

1. Farm Equipment

Caterpillar, Inc. is headquartered in Peoria (since 1910) and John Deere & Co. has a headquarters in Moline (since 1848).

2. Artificial Sweetners

Equal Sweetner is headquartered in Chicago (since 2000) and produced in Manteno.

3. Sunglasses

Maui Jim sunglasses is based in Peoria (since 1996).

4. Bagels

Lender’s Bagels, which is headquartered in Connecticut, has the biggest bagel factory in the world in Mattoon (since 1987).

5. Swing Sets

International Wood Products has been building wooden play sets in Plainfield since 1981.

6. Tortillas

El Milagro Tortillas have been made in Chicago since 1950.

7. Bikes

Heritage Bicycles is a custom bike shop in Chicago that also sells signature coffee.

8. Tootsie rolls

Tootsie Roll Industries has been making their signature chocolates, Tootsie Pops and DOTS in Chicago since 1968.

9. Chalk

Vecchio Manufacturing of Illinois have been making industrial-, commercial-, educational- and personal-use chalk in Elgin since 1934.

10. Vacuums

Eureka Company manufactured their vacuums in Bloomington from 1945 to 2011. They are now located in North Carolina.

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Caitlin Wilson is an editorial assistant at Reboot Illinois. She graduated from Loyola University Chicago, where she studied journalism and political science. Caitlin has become both endeared to and frustrated with her adopted home state and wants to bring Illinoisans the information they need to actively participate in the politics that directly affect them.  You can find Reboot onFacebook here and on Twitter at @rebootillinois.