Crews are putting the final touches on a new manufacturing and repair facility in Galesburg that will hire about 50 people over the next three years, and is almost right next door to another company the CEO runs.
Jupiter Machine Tool will sell CNC equipment and do repairs on other such machines using both virtual reality and augmented reality technology. In just a few short months, its facility on Enterprise Avenue near Pegasus Manufacturing has been built and is almost fully operational.
“Jupiter Machine Tool is dedicated to the design and development of advanced CNC machine tools for metalworking,” says Ray Whitehead, CEO. “We support customers like Toyota, John Deere, Case, and others. But in addition to that, we have a complete field service organization that’s dedicated to servicing machines. Further to support that, we’ve found through the use of direct and augmented reality, we can do this on a national basis.”
Whitehead says with both Jupiter Machine Tool and Pegasus Manufacturing, the entire community is to be given the credit.
“By bringing advanced technology to the community, it brings attention to the community itself, as well as on a national and international basis,” says Whitehead. “The International Machine and Tool Trade Show begins in September in Chicago. It happens every other years. We already have four CEO’s coming in from very large manufacturing companies to see this direct and augmented reality service center.”
A ribbon-cutting at Jupiter is next Thursday at 11am, which will air live on WGIL.
The building of Jupiter is the first such new building to be built in Galesburg in 22 years, according to city officials. Jupiter will hire 50 people over three years. Whitehead says he realizes that’s not the large number of manufacturing jobs many in Galesburg want, but he says it’s the type of work that will help lead Galesburg into the future.
