Peerless Industries consolidating Ill. operations after closing China plant, will add jobs

Peerless Industries to add 85 Ill. jobs over 3 yrs

CHICAGO — Peerless Industries, a maker of audiovisual mounting services, plans to stay in Illinois and add at least 85 new jobs to its 405-person work force over the next three years.

Peerless will move from two campuses in Melrose Park to a single larger facility in Aurora beginning in May. Illinois provided a $2.9 million investment package to leverage nearly $17.5 million in private investment to facilitate the move.

Gov. Pat Quinn says losing the company to an out-of-state location would have put hundreds of people out of work.

The company’s relocation follows a decision last year to return all manufacturing jobs to the United States after four years during which 30 percent of the company’s products were produced in China.