Prolec GE Waukesha, a company with 374 employees already in Wayne County, plans to add 330 jobs with a $140 million investment to build a second manufacturing facility in Goldsboro.
Headquartered in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Prolec-GE Waukesha is one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of power transformers. It’s a subsidiary of Monterrey, Mexico-based Prolec GE and acquired the existing Waukesha transformers business in Goldsboro in 2021.
The new jobs will pay an average annual salary of $71,912, compared to the current average wage of $46,211 in Wayne County. The overall average annual wage in North Carolina is $67,474. The jobs will be for assembly workers, welders, engineers and others.
Prolec GE Waukesha is a subsidiary of GE Prolec Transformers, a U.S. joint venture between Xignux and GE Vernova. Prolec GE Waukesha engineers, manufactures, installs, and services power transformers for investor-owned utilities, co-ops, municipalities, renewable project developers, data centers and other industrial sites.
Prolec GE’s new site in Goldsboro will support the growing demand for power grid capacity in the United States. It will double the Goldsboro facility’s current production volume of medium power transformers, allowing it to produce 200 more transformers per year.
This collaboration will “drive growth in the manufacturing sector,” said Juan Ignacio Garza Herrera, Xignux CEO and Prolec GE chairman.
On Wednesday, the state’s Economic Investment Committee approved a Job Development Investment Grant worth $4.69 million to Prolect GE to facilitate the deal. Wayne County added a $5.5 million incentive. The grant money will be paid out over a 12-year period if Prolec Ge meets investment and job targets, beginning in 2026. Prolec GE expects to make its $140 million investment by Dec. 31, 2027.
The state and local grants also call for Prolec GE to retain the 374 employees it currently has in Wayne County.
Prolec GE considered sites in Mexico, Brazil, Waukesha and Shreveport, Louisiana, where it also has operations, before choosing Goldsboro.