PJ Wallbank Springs Inc. President Chris Wallbank speaks Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019 at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the P.J. Wallbank Springs, Inc. Engineering STEAM Lab at Port Huron Northern. The company gave the school district $150,000 to split between Port Huron and Port Huron Northern high schools over the next six years, as well as offering mentorship opportunities to students.
P.J. Wallbank Springs is expanding its Port Huron operations, investing $2.4 million in new equipment and creating 40 jobs, according to a news release by the St. Clair County Economic Development Alliance.
The company is receiving a Michigan Business Development Grant of $205,880 to help with the expansion, the release said. The new grant is an increase from a 2016 expansion grant of $350,000 in 2016. St. Clair County EDA CEO Dan Casey said the global nature of P.J. Wallbank Springs’ business gives them a lot of options as to where to invest, and these grants help incentivize them to do it locally.
“They have the ability to do that work in a lot of different places,” Casey said. “We want to make sure they do it here in St. Clair County.”
The expansion grew beyond the original expansion because of new business contracts, the release said. The company chose Michigan over locations in Germany and China.
A job fair to help fill the new positions is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 23 at 2121 Beard St., Port Huron. Current job openings at P.J. Wallbank Springs are posted at pjws.com/careers.
P.J. Wallbank Springs was founded in 1982 and specializes in spring pack design and manufacturing for automatic transmissions, the release said. It supplies parts to companies across the world, and currently exports more than 50 percent of its sales, the release said.
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