Unison Industries will invest $28 million in its Norwich plant and add 70 jobs.

The project was announced by state and company representatives on Tuesday at the company's location south of Norwich.

Over the next four years, the company will invest $10 million in facility and equipment upgrades and $18 million in research and development operations. Unison will receive a performance-based grant of $4.2 million from the state to assist with the project.

"This site has been part of this community for a long time, and this investment will help us continue to drive growth in our manufacturing and research operations into the future," said Dan Ketchum, general manager of the Norwich Unison site.

The Norwich plant has gone through several owners, formerly Simmons Precision, and later being sold to B.F. Goodrich Aerospace, and then acquired by the GE Aerospace division in 1997. The Norwich location is one of five major Unison manufacturing sites.

Unision's 160,000-square-foot Norwich plant manufactures power generation and control systems for gas turbine engines, metal encased ignition leads, sensors, pressure and limit switches, bellows, space ignition systems, and components for use by other Unison locations. Product engineering, new product development and testing is performed on site.

In addition to creating 70 new jobs, the investment will help retain 362 existing jobs, the state said.

Nine job openings for the Norwich location are currently listed on the company's website. Among the positions available are lead weld engineer, assembler/tester, CNC machine operators and fulfillment leader.

"This is a significant investment that will help boost New York's advanced technology and aerospace industries," said Lawrence Wilcox, chairman of the Chenango County Board of Supervisors.