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The eBearing News
November 22, 2005
RBC Locating New Bearing Plant
in South Carolina
copyright © 2005 eBearing Inc.
RBC Bearings Inc. (USA; NASDAQ:
ROLL)
will locate a new manufacturing facility in South Carolina, a relatively unorthodox move in a company
best known for growing by acquisition.
RBC officials declined eBearing's offer for comment. However, the company did issue public statements
for the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, eBearing was able to interview local officials and was
contacted by other RBC employees.
The new facility will be built in the Lee County Speculative Building, essentially a flexible
spec-built shell building at James Industrial Park in Bishopville, South Carolina.
Bishopville is immediately south of RBC's existing plant in Hartsville, South Carolina. And the reason RBC needs
Bishopville, eBearing sources tell us, is that Hartsville is straining its capacity. Currently
running three shifts, it employs approximately 215 people.
Built in 1966, Hartsville produces cylindrical roller cam followers, including the RBC Roller and Pitchlign
brands, spherical plain bearings, forklift mast guide bearings, and a variety of other
bearings for customer-specific applications.
Easing the pressure and opening Hartsville's opportunities required either offloading some production
capacity, or adding to the facility. RBC chose to offload production and re-focus Hartsville on the
late-stage, value-added manufacturing steps.
The Bishopville plant, once online, will produce rough machined and induction-heat-treated components
strictly for Hartsville. Hartsville will take those components, perform secondary and other operations,
finish grinding, and final assembly.
While the Lee County Speculative Building can reportedly accommodate a shop floor up to 50,000 square
feet, no announcement was made as to RBC's plans for the space other than to note employment will
be approximately 50 people.
In a press release, the South Carolina DoC quoted its Commerce Secretary, Bob Faith:
"We are extremely pleased that RBC Bearings has chosen to locate another one of its operations in
South Carolina. Clearly, this industry leader has recognized the advantages of doing business in
our state. We're continuing to build on our business advantages, so that South Carolina will be
even more competitive in attracting jobs and capital investment."
RBC VP/GM, Rick Edwards, told the press release: "We are pleased to be locating our new facility in Lee
County. RBC Bearings has operated facilities in South Carolina since 1966 and we have enjoyed a
long period of success with the quality of the workforce we have been able to attract here.
The development support provided by South Carolina’s state and local agencies played a major
part in our decision to locate this expansion in South Carolina."
RBC operates another bearing factory in South Carolina, Linear Precision in Walterboro.
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- by Bruce A. Carr
from individual research,
tips and commercial sources.
Bruce Carr edited this content.
Copyrighted material; unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
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eBearing.com ... for everything that moves™
Entire contents Copyright © 1999-2011, eBearing Inc. All rights reserved.
eBearing.com and "... for everything that moves" are registered trademarks of eBearing Inc.
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