Jonathan Shane Wallingford Steers a 70 Year Old American Ball Mill Maker Through Crisis and Into Growth

TOLLESBORO, Ky. Jonathan Shane Wallingford learned industry from the ground up, quite literally. Before he ran a manufacturing company, he spent about five years underground in the mining business, drilling, blasting, handling roof control and operating heavy equipment. That early work still shapes how he leads.

Today Mr. Wallingford is president of JSB Industrial Solutions, Inc., which owns Economy Ball Mill, a manufacturer founded more than 70 years ago. Ball mills grind ore and other materials into fine powder, and Economy Ball Mill builds them in the United States with American workers and its own sales and service teams rather than relying on imports.

His route to the top of the company ran through a paper mill. After his mining years he took a job as a production technician in the paper industry, where a tuition reimbursement program let him go to school while he worked. He earned an associate degree in applied science from the Kentucky Community and Technical College System in 2009, then a bachelor's degree in technology management and a master's degree in engineering management from Morehead State University.

With that mix of plant floor experience and management training, he built a five point framework for evaluating businesses to acquire. He used it to bring Economy Ball Mill under JSB Industrial Solutions, and he has run the company since. His job covers a lot of ground: purchasing major components, sales, general management, coordinating work orders, managing customer relationships and overseeing laboratory testing.

The hardest test came with the pandemic. Contracts disappeared and revenue fell sharply. Instead of pulling back, Mr. Wallingford invested in a complete rebuild of the company's website and leaned into search engine optimization, geofencing and online advertising. The new approach brought customers back and put the business on steadier footing.

By January 2026 the company had finished building a new manufacturing facility, and the old building was converted into a full laboratory. For Mr. Wallingford, the project is proof of how far the business has come since the pandemic. He is now focused on the rare earth minerals sector, where demand is rising for equipment that can grind material down to 65 microns for use in microchip production. Customers in that niche sometimes expect a bigger name, and he wins them over with the company's long track record and his own engineering background.

His work has been recognized more than once. The State of Kentucky named the company its Small Business of the Year in manufacturing in 2016, he holds the title of Kentucky Colonel, and Lions International, where he is a member, presented him with its Melvin Jones Award. In September 2026 his profile appeared in the Washington and Baltimore edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Close to home, he puts time and money into his rural community. He helped renovate the baseball field where his children played, adding new bases, fencing and other improvements, and he matched a $5,000 gift to buy knee braces for the local high school football team.

Mr. Wallingford is married with three grown children, and he credits his wife's support with carrying him through the toughest stretch of the pandemic. He plans to keep growing the company, possibly by acquiring a maker of complementary processing equipment. Further down the road he would like to teach, either as an adjunct professor or in vocational education, while spending more time on his farm and traveling with his wife.

Dynamo Times recognizes Jonathan Shane Wallingford for keeping an American manufacturer strong and for showing what perseverance looks like on the shop floor and in the front office.