Northern Tool promotes the trades with donation

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS - Northern Tool + Equipment's CEO earlier this month visited John H. Hersey High School, where he donated $5,000 in tools, gear and gift cards for the high school's trades programs.

The event featured an in-class presentation from Northern Tool's CEO Suresh Krishna and gave the students an opportunity to work with the new tools, the company said.

The donation was made through the company's Northern Tools for the Trades program. Northern Tool, based in Burnsville, Minnesota, operates 120 stores in 11 states, and recently opened its first Chicago-area store in Mount Prospect.

"There is a gap in skilled trades that is looming right now in the country," Krishna said. "We are really committed to supporting the trades and building the next generation of people who would be interested in doing work with their hands."

Northern Tools for the Trades program was started to address a growing problem, the company said. According to a recent Deloitte report, the manufacturing skills gap may leave an estimated 2.4 million positions unfilled between 2018 and 2028, with a potential economic impact of $2.5 trillion.