Platt Cases Honored at 2025 Chicago Manufacturing Excellence Awards
Platt Cases is proud to announce that the company has been honored at the 2025 Chicago Manufacturing Excellence Awards, presented on October 17, 2025 by the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development and World Business Chicago. The awards recognize Chicago manufacturers whose work demonstrates exceptional contribution to the city's manufacturing economy and community.
Platt Cases was one of ten Chicago manufacturers honored at the third annual ceremony. Recipients are selected for excellence across five performance areas: longevity, resilience, innovation, community investment, and workforce development.
Watch: Platt Cases 2025 Acceptance & Factory Tour
Video highlight featuring the official 2025 award presentation ceremony and an inside look at our single-source manufacturing center in Chicago.
About the Award
The Chicago Manufacturing Excellence Awards are presented annually by the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development and World Business Chicago. The awards highlight the importance of the manufacturing and industrial sectors to the local and regional economy and recognize manufacturers whose work demonstrates exemplary commitment to Chicago's industrial future.
What This Recognition Means for Platt Cases
Platt Cases has manufactured protective cases in Chicago since 1921 — more than a century of continuous custom case production from a single American city. The recognition at the 2025 Manufacturing Excellence Awards reflects what the Platt family and the Platt team have built across four generations: a manufacturing operation that has stayed in Chicago through every economic cycle, every technology shift, and every change in the case industry.
Dan Platt, who leads the company as the fourth generation of the Platt family in the business, accepted the recognition on behalf of the company. "This award belongs to every person who has worked at Platt Cases over the past century," said Dan Platt. "We've stayed in Chicago because Chicago is where our employees, our customers, and our manufacturing capability are. The recognition is a reflection of what they've built — not what I've done."
Platt Cases' Chicago facility houses every step of the company's custom case production: in-house CAD design, CNC production machinery, waterjet cutting, vacuum forming, foam fabrication, and a unionized sewing department. The combination is what makes Platt Cases a single-source manufacturer for OEM, industrial, medical, and field service custom case programs.
Recognized Across Every Award Criterion
The Manufacturing Excellence Awards evaluate manufacturers across five criteria. Platt Cases' work in Chicago reflects each of them.
Longevity
Platt Cases has manufactured continuously in Chicago since 1921. Founded by Benjamin Platt, the company has been led by four generations of the Platt family across 100+ years — through every economic cycle, every shift in American manufacturing, and every change in the case industry. More than half of Platt Cases' employees have been with the company for 20 or more years.
Resilience
From leather harness craftwork in 1921 through plastics manufacturing in the mid-20th century to today's custom OEM and industrial case programs, Platt Cases has continuously evolved manufacturing capability without leaving Chicago. The company has weathered industry consolidation, off-shoring pressure, and successive recessions while maintaining its Chicago operation and its U.S. manufacturing footprint.
Innovation
Platt Cases was the first company to introduce combination locks on luggage, cushioned handles, custom hardware, and urethane pallets — and was the first to mold plastic end shells on catalog cases. Today, the company runs in-house CAD design, CNC production machinery, waterjet cutting, vacuum forming, and foam fabrication under one roof. Custom programs span soft sewn cases, ATA cases, custom molded cases, custom Pelican customization, and custom foam programs.
Community Investment
Platt Cases has invested in its Chicago manufacturing facility through multiple SBIF grants, supporting permanent building improvements that strengthen the company's long-term Chicago footprint. The company has remained in Chicago across multiple location moves — from the original Platt Luggage Building (designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw) to the current 4051 W. 51st Street facility near Midway Airport.
Workforce Development
Platt Cases operates as a unionized facility with a workforce defined by long-term retention. The company's commitment to its employees — including more than half of the workforce reaching 20+ year tenures — reflects a manufacturing culture built on stability, skill development, and a shared investment in the company's continued operation.
2025 Manufacturing Excellence Award Recipients
Platt Cases joined nine other Chicago manufacturers honored at the 2025 awards. The awards highlight the breadth of Chicago's manufacturing economy — from precision instruments and consumer goods to industrial infrastructure and food production:
Precision & Specialty
Recognized alongside historic industry leaders and innovators focused on performance products:
- BrightBot
- Culture Studio
- Lyon & Healy Harps
Industrial Infrastructure
Honored next to infrastructure and machinery fabricators sustaining domestic supply chains:
- Howe Corp.
- Industrial Fence Inc.
- Midco International
- Naylor Pipe Co.
Food Processing
Recognized alongside high-volume operations executing essential consumer supply support systems:
- Damron Corp.
- Sabinas Food Products
Continuing the Work
The Manufacturing Excellence Award recognizes a century of work — and a century of work continues. Platt Cases is currently building out new capability across the company's custom solutions program, including expanded custom Pelican customization, refreshed custom foam and custom molded case programs, and a deepening focus on OEM and industrial buyer programs. The Chicago facility remains the center of every program.
For OEM, industrial, medical, and field service buyers evaluating Platt Cases as a custom case manufacturer, the recognition is a reflection of the operating reality: a Chicago manufacturing operation, run by a family that has stayed with the work for four generations, with engineering, foam fabrication, and finishing capability all under one roof. Learn more about our long history as a local producer on our About Us page or review our manufacturing capabilities at Custom Case Manufacturing.
Press Inquiries & Award Verification: For media inquiries about the 2025 Chicago Manufacturing Excellence Awards recognition, contact info@plattcases.com or call 800-222-1555. The full list of 2025 honorees and the official City of Chicago press release are available on the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development website.
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