In late October, after 102 years in business, Peerless Pottery closed its Rockport, Ind., factory, where it had manufactured residential and commercial vitreous china bathroom fixtures, including toilets, lavatories and urinals, and employed 167 workers. The company said its sales had declined in the face of foreign competition.

Procesadora de Ceramica de Mexico (Procemex), a family-owned company, has acquired ownership and control of all Peerless Pottery brand names, products and product designs, and will produce and distribute Peerless products throughout the world.

“For Peerless customers, this means not only a continuation of their existing business, but also many new and exciting products will be available to them in the coming months,” said a spokesman for Peerless Pottery Sales.

A sales office in the Rockport area will be manned by the existing sales team, which will continue to process and handle all customer orders along with their national team of sales reps.

Eventually all production will be moved to Mexico, enabling Peerless to continue to supply to their customers an expanded line of quality products at competitive prices, the company said.

Earlier this year in June, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development had awarded a $191,625 Incumbent Worker Training grant to Peerless Pottery to upgrade the skills of 105 employees. The company leveraged the state's grant with $216,363 to help its employees learn new manufacturing competencies and continuous process improvement techniques.