Foothill Ranch-based Bal Seal Engineering, which has been in Southern California for 53 years, says it will build a new $45 million manufacturing plant and hire 210 people in Colorado Springs. Bal Seal also plans to build another 90,000 square-foot expansion at the 17-acre site in the future. President and CEO Rick Dawson stressed in a phone interview that the project that will double its manufacturing capacity is an expansion, not a move out of California. The company has 435 employees now. Bal Seal makes critical components for companies in the medical device, defense, aerospace and automotive industries and is often the only source of these parts, Dawson said, adding that customers have pressured Bal Seal to have an alternative factory because of the danger of earthquakes and wildfires in California.
