Orangeburg a small agricultural city? No way. Of the 10 biggest manufacturing plants in central South Carolina, it’s the only one, including Columbia, which can claim two.

Number 1, Louis Rich (chicken processing) in Newberry employs 2,229. Number 2 is another chicken company, Pilgrim’s Pride in Sumter, 2,050.

Number 3, the Husqvarna lawn mower plant on Old Elloree Road hires up to 1,800 in the summer and fall, but at peak production next winter and spring will have a payroll nearing 2,500.

Now, go down to number 10. The Koyo bearings plant on Magnolia Street which employs only 565 but is another behemoth of 492,000 square feet. Compare that with your house of 1,000 to 5,000 square feet. Inside, hundreds of 21st century metal machines turn, grind and smooth small (one-inch) to much larger (six-inch) bearings. They have come rough and unpolished from Kentucky Advanced Forging.

2,150,000 sets a month

What are bearings? Very plain but shiny bracelet-like rings of steel that fit around axles, forcing them to turn. All cars and trucks, in fact, nearly every present-day machine uses them for this. Often they will have a second bearing inside which turns on small ball bearings that can go faster, slower, or in a different direction. Auto makers use them to empower movement in many parts of cars including the wheels, the alternators, etc.

Big trucks haul out thousands to a Toyoto Plant in West Virginia, a Ford factory in Michigan and to the American Axle Co. near Detroit. Many others go to the BMW Company in Greer, S.C. and 15 other plants, including one in Mexico. By the time one month ends, 2,150,000 “sets” have been shipped out from the local plant.

A Japanese-owned company with headquarters in Osaka, Koyo opened here in 1973. It operates at full capacity 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Yoshio Ose is executive vice president. Steve McCullough is general manager. No joke, a big part of the world turns on Koyo bearings.

Making muskets

In 1689 in the Swedish village of Husqvarna, a local man decided to set up a small shop making muskets. In the ensuing centuries, his business manufactured many products and, today, has grown to seven factories, including its largest in Orangeburg.

Moving here from Illinois in 1973, the plant had the name of Roper Lawn Mower Company, which later became American Yard Products, then Frigidaire Home Products, then Electrolux and now Husqvarna.

To go inside the local plant is an experience in big! A million, two hundred thousand square feet are necessary to accommodate the warehouse and four assembly lines which create 750,000 tractor mowers every year. The hundreds of different models include the smallest, which has one 38-inch round deck (cover) holding two blades, all the way up to a 54-inch deck which supports three blades. The company’s push mowers are made in McRae, Ga.

First step in the process is the press room, where towering, four-column presses smash down on various sizes of steel sheets. Voila! Out come many parts, including perfectly shaped seat floorboards and decks for the blades.

Picked up by forklifts, they ride through the power paints section, get “beautified” with red, green, gold or black then on to room two, the welding shop -- you could play football in it. Here many small parts forged into “weldments” are installed by lines of skilled workers on either side. Noise dominates. Every woman or man wears the tiny, yellow, company-furnished foam ear plugs.

An American step forward

Room three is for subassembly, where pulleys and blades are attached to decks, and steering mechanisms and other parts to the chassis. Then a conveyor belt or overhead chain carries them to Room Four where outside sections and inside screws, plates, etc. get a black paint dipping. All come through a hot air drying enclosure.

The final assembly, room five, is for attaching more essential parts including the engines, the transmissions, even the tires. Then each goes into a huge cardboard box with a wooden base. On into the 300,000-foot warehouse, they get stacked high. Trucks continuously haul them off for use in the U.S. or to ships bound for Europe, Australia and all points east and west.

Several of these models have won consumer “best buy” awards.

To visit such a modern, assembly line factory is to see one of the great steps forward America has given the world: high-tech production so vast that most working people can own the products.

Central S.C.’s other six largest manufacturers are: Michelin Tire at Lexington, Amick Farms at Batesburg-Leesville, Kimberly-Clark at Beech Island, Westinghouse in Columbia, Bridgestone Firestone at Graniteville, and Square D at Hopkins.

Retired editor and public relations executive Thomas Langford’s column is titled “Some Edisto stories.” Let him know if you have stories to share: 803-534-2097.

You must be logged in to comment.