JE Pistons To Bring Manufacturing Center To Mentor

JE Pistons -- a maker of high-performance forged pistons for the motorsports and powersports market -- announced that it is relocating its advanced manufacturing center from California to Mentor.

The move will bring between 100 and 150 jobs to the city of Mentor, said Ron Traub, the city's director of economic development.

Traub called the move an economic "grand slam" for the city.

, which is already based in Mentor, and JE have the same parent company, Performance Motorsports Inc. (PMi).

So when JE needed to expand, PMi decided to use space it already had available at Wiseco's headquarters on Industrial Parkway, JE Pistons' sales manager Alan Stevenson said.

In addition to bringing jobs to the city, JE has already invested about $1 million into its Mentor facility.

Their relocation from Hungtington Beach, CA, will occur in stages from July through November this year and will involve moving more than 75 of the company’s modern CNC machines and supporting equipment.

This move not only brings JE closer to its customer base, Stevenson said, it will also expand their capabilities because Ohio has fewer limits than California when it comes to manufacturing oversight.

"We are excited to relocate the JE Pistons manufacturing center to Ohio, and believe this move will afford us even greater efficiencies that we can pass along to our customers through competitively priced product, lower shipping costs, critical speed of delivery and expanded internal coating capabilities," said Bob Hange, the president of PMi.

PMi was coaxed to the city through a team effort, Traub said. The city of Mentor, JobsOhio, the Mentor Chamber of Commerce and State Rep. Ron Young all were involved in the year-long discussions to bring JE Pistons to Ohio.

"Coalitions like this are able to get the job when when individiual efforts sometimes cannot," Traub said.

"We’re also appreciative of the financial support we’ve received on both the local and state level to help make this move possible," Hange added.

This has been a good week for business in Mentor. On Tuesday, Mentor City Council approved a land sale to Penske Automotive that will allow them to build an Audi dealership in Mentor.

Then Council approved an incentive grant that kept Cleveland Construction in Mentor and will help them expand.

"Every day is a great day in Mentor but this has been an especially good week," Traub said. "And it's only Thursday."