On Thursday, February 9th, Peerless Industrial Group, Inc., the largest manufacturer and distributor of industrial and consumer chain and traction products in North America, kicked-off their centennial celebration with a ribbon cutting prior to hosting the Winona Area Chamber of Commerce Network Nite.
Peerless Chain Company was founded February 16, 1917, as a manufacturer of tire chains after the rights and interests for the diamond link chain patent were purchased from its inventor. Peerless eventually expanded into hardware and industrial chain manufacturing, as well as wire forms by the 1960’s. By the late 1970’s Peerless entered the overhead lifting market, but was still known primarily as a chain supplier to the local hardware stores and retail chain stores. That remained the case until a series of acquisitions beginning in 2004 changed the face of Peerless.
March 2004: The acquisition of Weissenfels USA. For several years Weissenfels USA has been the largest chain supplier to the U.S Department of Defense supplying chains for use in critical application items such as aircraft tie-downs, tow chains, aerial delivery cargo slings and tire chains. Weissenfels USA served the North American market for over 30 years. While the Weissenfels USA name is no longer in use, the customer relationships are still as strong today as they have ever been.
July 2006: The acquisition of the American Chain Company (ACCO). ACCO was established as the Weed Chain Tire Grip Company in 1904 and became the American Chain Company in 1912. Through the years, ACCO built a strong foundation in the overhead lifting and marine chain and fitting markets. The ACCO brand name is still in use today for the products in the Peerless marine category.
December 2010: The acquisition of Letellier Material Handling Equipment (LMHE). Beginning in 1974, LMHE manufactured high quality overhead lifting devices to satisfy the requirements of customers in many diverse industries. Today the products within the below-the-hook and material handling category are manufactured by the Peerless Custom Lifting divisions in South Holland, IL and Jeannette, PA.
September 2011: The acquisition of Security Chain Company (SCC). SCC brought cutting-edge traction and cargo control products to our always increasing product offering. The SCC traction product category consists of many brand names like Auto-Trac, Z-Chain, and Super Z.
August 2014: Peerless became a wholly owned subsidiary of KITO Americas. KITO Americas also operates the Harrington Hoists and KITO Canada businesses in North America. KITO Americas is a market leader in providing powered and manual overhead lifting products. The combination of Peerless, Harrington and KITO brands gives combined customers access to a much wider variety of products in the markets served throughout KITO’s global network.
Today, as a worldwide provider of lifting solutions, utilizing their exceptional design, engineering, manufacturing, and quality teams, Peerless continues to develop crucial products for the wide variety of markets they serve – with product offerings grouped into six categories: Overhead Lifting, Below-the-Hook and Material Handling, Cargo Control, Hardware, Marine and Traction products.
