Schaeffler to Double Bearing Output at South Carolina Plant

Schaeffler AG has completed a $36.5 million expansion of its Fort Mill, S.C., campus as it continues to increase production of thrust bearings used in automatic transmissions.

The investment adds 35,000-sq-ft of manufacturing space at the company’s Fort Mill 1 plant and a new 64,000-sq-ft administrative building. Schaeffler says the plant is on track to produce 150 million bearings and bearing assemblies per year by 2020, compared with 56 million in 2010 and about 75 million last year.

The expansion was prompted by increased demand for bearings used in 8-, 9- and 10-speed automatic transmissions, which Schaeffler supplies to Fiat Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and ZF. Noting transmissions with more gears require additional bearings, Schaeffler says the Fort Mills plant more than doubled its sales from about €51 million in 2011 to €103 million last year.

Schaeffler produces variable cam phasers for a variety of engines at a second plant on the Fort Mills campus. The expansion is part of a $164 million investment announced in 2015 for Schaeffler’s six South Carolina plants. The German company, which supplies FAG-, INA- and LuK-branded components, also has facilities in Connecticut, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio.