Schaeffler celebrates 1M-production milestone at Cheraw plant 

No one has yet computed how many gallons of gasoline that employees at the Schaeffler Group’s Cheraw plant have saved by producing 1 million “UniAir actuators,” a high-tech auto engine component.

For now, Schaeffler Group USA Inc., which is based in Fort Mill, is celebrating the 1-million-unit production milestone.

                                                

Here's what a Schaeffler UniAir actuator system looks like. It controls automobile valves… more

Jeff Harris, president of Schaeffler engine systems, says the company’s employees deserve all the credit for producing so many of the actuators. Now the engine components are headed for other automakers.

"Since its development, market interest has increased and we now have plans to expand it to new engine applications in 2016,” he says.

The UniAir component, developed in 2009, was first used in an Alfa Romeo. All told, nearly 2 million actuators have been made in South Carolina and elsewhere by Schaeffler employees.

In June 2011, the Cheraw plant began making the systems for the Fiat and Dodge Dart engines. About 300 employees work on the actuators, which have 114 sub components.

Schaeffler developed the engine component along with partner Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. In 2012, the UniAir actuators won the Automotive News PACE Award.

The idea of the Schaeffler-Fiat Chrysler partnership was to make a global automobile engine that could be used by multiple automakers. The Schaeffler actuator controls engine valves in a way to both save gas and increase engine torque. The units can save as much as 5% on fuel consumption, Schaeffler says.

Schaeffler Group USA has six S.C. plants, including two in Fort Mill and three in Chesterfield County. The company has an estimated 1,987 employees in the Charlotte region.

Schaeffler is a unit of Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. of Schweinfurt, Germany.