"Cheers for gears!" Roscoe's Forest City Gear opens new warehouse in Roscoe

Forest City Gear, a third-generation, family-owned manufacturer of fine and medium-pitch gears with deep roots in Roscoe, marked a new chapter in its nearly 70-year history with the grand opening of a 5,000-square-foot warehouse on Tuesday, August 26.

The climate- and humidity-controlled facility will not only free up space in the company’s existing workshop but also position the family-owned business to take on larger contracts in aerospace, defense, and even outer space.

The project, which broke ground last September, has been in development for just over a year. On Tuesday, community leaders, company staff, and industry partners gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new site.

Community pride was on full display during the celebration. Representatives from the Rockford Chamber of Commerce joined the ceremony, with Chief Operating Officer and Rockton resident Caitlin Pusateri offering opening remarks.

“Cheers for Gears,” Pusateri said to the crowd, applauding the company’s long-standing role in regional manufacturing and impact in local, national, and outer space projects.

Indeed, Forest City Gear has already left its mark beyond Earth. While much of the company’s work is protected by non-disclosure agreements, Young reminded guests that Forest City Gear supplied critical components for NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers in 2001, Curiosity in 2007 and 2012, and Perseverance in 2017 (landed on Mars in 2021).

“I’d love to tell you what’s inside this warehouse, but too many NDAs prevent that,” Young said with a smile, noting that media were asked not to photograph close-ups of stored materials.

Village of Roscoe Trustees also attended, showing their support for a business they described as integral to the community.

“Forest City Gear is synonymous with Roscoe,” said Trustee Michael Wright. Fellow Trustee John Broda echoed the sentiment, calling the expansion “another great thing for Roscoe from a family-owned company.” Trustee Dayne Mead added, “their reputation reflects on Roscoe. A company of their caliber that wants to stay here says a lot about this area.”

The new warehouse space was needed to field larger projects from existing clients and take on new clientele, which could not be handled within the existing venue.

“Our shop was out of floor space,” Young explained, noting the challenges of staging up to 60 pallets of customer parts without adequate room. Some hallway space taken up and skillful forklift drivers could only address those challenges for so long. The expansion has already led to new business opportunities.

Beyond the scope of space required, Ms. Young also stressed the importance of climate and humidity control. FCG's customers require that products and materials be stored in such an environment given their delicate nature. Even though some of these products endure the harsh environments of space, storage in a non-conditioned space could lead to rust or defects that could set back projects.

Environmental stewardship was also central to the project. Young emphasized the values instilled by her mother, Wendy Young: to “leave it better than you found it.” Because trees were removed to make room for construction, Forest City Gear offered employees saplings—including dogwoods, American chestnuts, and plums—to plant at home. “We want to more than make up for the trees we had to take down,” Young said.

The project was delivered on budget, on schedule, and to specification, earning special shout-outs from FCG's director of operations Jared Lyford to the teams of contractors and local businesses that made it happen. Mr. Lyford was very specific with the contributions and his praise for each step in the project. You can find his remarks in the photo below.