Tollesboro, Kentucky

Jonathan ShaneWallingford

I am president of JSB Industrial Solutions, the company behind the Economy Ball Mill product line. We build the large rotating mills that crush, grind and process material for mining, mineral processing, recycling, construction materials, rare earth mineral recovery and advanced manufacturing.

Get in touch What I do

Jonathan Shane Wallingford on the shop floor

About

Nearly two decades in manufacturing, spent keeping a seventy year old product line made in America.

Economy Ball Mill has been built in the United States for more than seventy years. It began in the 1950s as Economy Manufacturing, merged with Crossley somewhere between the 1970s and the early 1990s, and became the Economy Ball Mill Company. I acquired the line and run it today from Tollesboro, Kentucky, as a domestic answer in the pulverization industry. I have led the company for more than a decade.

Shane Wallingford standing on the fabrication floor beside a ball mill shell

Held the line through COVID

Contracts fell away and annual revenue dropped sharply. I rebuilt the website from the ground up and put in search engine optimisation, geofencing and online advertising. Growth came back.

Built a new plant

We completed construction of a new manufacturing facility in early 2026 and converted the old building into a full scale laboratory, so testing now sits alongside the shop.

Opened new markets

The equipment now serves rare earth minerals processing, where demand is rising for machines that reduce material to 65 microns for microchip manufacturing.

In my own words

From the open house at the Tollesboro plant

“This is a regional event. Eastern Kentucky and Lewis County, in particular, are open for business.”

“I’ve sold equipment to Australia, Belgium, Romania, Mexico, and Canada.”

“The equipment that we make makes a difference.”

Quoted in the Lewis County Herald, 15 May 2026.

Work

What comes out of the shop

Shane Wallingford standing at the end of a large steel ball mill cylinder in the fabrication shop — Ball millsLarge rotating cylinders filled with steel balls that crush, grind and process material.

Shane Wallingford crouched at the open end of a mill drum, lifting a forged steel grinding ball — Grinding mediaForged steel media, sized to the duty the mill has to do.

Shane Wallingford watching a CNC laser cut profiles from steel plate — CNC laser cuttingPlate cut in house, so the parts we design are the parts we make.

Shane Wallingford checking the strapping on crated equipment on the loading apron — ExportEquipment sold into Australia, Belgium, Romania, Mexico and Canada.

Shane Wallingford pouring a sample into a stack of test sieves in the laboratory — Laboratory testingThe former plant, converted into a full scale laboratory.

Shane Wallingford walking the length of the fabrication shop at the end of the day — The shop floorTollesboro, Kentucky, where all of it is built.

Capabilities

What the company takes on

Ball mills
Toll milling
Attritor mill barrel rebuilds
Pallet machinery
Precast molds
Precious metals services
Custom manufacturing and engineering
CNC laser cutting

Day to day I handle major components and purchasing, sales and general management, work coordination, customer relationships, laboratory testing operations and work schedules.

Recent

Where the company is now

Shane Wallingford standing in the yard in front of the newly completed manufacturing building

A new manufacturing facility

Construction finished in early 2026. The building we moved out of became a full scale laboratory, which means material testing and production now sit on the same site.

Shane Wallingford talking with a machinist beside a lathe

An open house for the region

On 1 May 2026 we opened the Tollesboro plant to the region. The Lewis County Herald covered the day.

Background

How I got to the plant floor

I spent roughly five years in mining, working as a blasting, drilling, roof control and heavy equipment operator. After that I worked as a production technician in the paper industry, where a tuition reimbursement scheme paid for my study.

I hold an associate degree in applied science from the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, awarded in 2009, and a bachelor’s degree in technology management and a master’s degree in engineering management, both from Morehead State University. I credit the push toward running my own business to the faculty there, and to Dr. Ahmad Zargari in particular.

Acquiring Economy Ball Mill was not luck. I worked out a five point framework for judging an acquisition and used it to find the company.

Recognition

Small Business of the Year, Manufacturing, Commonwealth of Kentucky, 2016
Kentucky Colonel, 2016
Melvin Jones Award, Lions International
Member, Lions International

Shane Wallingford holding a sample jar up to the light in the laboratory

Community

Tollesboro is a small place and it matters

My hometown is about fifteen thousand people spread across five hundred square miles. I renovated the baseball field my children played on, with new bases, fencing and utility fields, and I matched a five thousand dollar donation so the high school football team could have knee braces.

Contact

Tell me what you need to grind

If you have a material, a throughput and a target particle size, that is enough to start a conversation. Send it over and I will come back to you.

JSB Industrial Solutions, INC
14539 HWY 57, P.O. Box 237
Tollesboro, KY 41189
United States