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Schaumburg's Quality Float Works files bankruptcy protection

Schaumburg-based Quality Float Works Inc., which makes metal float balls, valves and assemblies has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The global manufacturing firm works with the oil, gas, plumbing and agricultural industries, and listed more than $1.3 million in debt in documents filed Aug. 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago. The company also listed $481,533 in assets.

Jason Speer, a former Streamwood trustee, who has appeared on local and national TV shows as a business commenter, is the company's president. Led by third and fourth generation entrepreneurs, he runs the company with his mother, Sandra Westlund-Deenihan.

Speer has been very active in business organizations locally and nationally, including the National Association of Manufacturers and The Manufacturing Council with the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

The filing sites several creditors, including First Midwest Bank of Itasca owed nearly $400,000 and FC Market Place LLC of San Fransisco, California, owed $229,125. Westlund-Deenihan of Streamwood, listed as the company secretary, also is listed as a creditor who loaned the company $275,387.

Calls to Speer and his attorney were not immediately returned. Under Chapter 11, the company can continue to operate until it pays off its creditors.

The family business, operating at 1382 Payne Road, was founded in 1915 and has won several awards from local and national business organizations. The U.S. Small Business Administration selected the company as Illinois' Small Business Exporter of the year in 2013. At that time, the company had grown sales by 200 percent over the past 10 years due to developing a technological innovation that allowed them to compete in the international marketplace. The company at that time was exporting to locations in Canada, Belgium, China, Ireland, Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, and many other countries.

Speer launched the Quality Float Valve division in 2003 to capitalize on a market need to provide float valve assemblies to developing nations. Sales increased rapidly and the company expanded with a new distribution center in Dubai in 2011. The company exports to Asia, Canada, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, said the company website.

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Then Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner stopped at Quality Float Works in Schaumburg in July 2014 to announce his job growth and tax reform plans during a campaign stop. DAILY HERALD FILE PHOTO
Jason Speer, president, and his mother, Sandra Westlund-Deenihan, operate Quality Float Works in Schaumburg. DAILY HERALD FILE PHOTO
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