Koyo Corp of USA (a division of JTEKT, Japan; Tokyo: 6473;5251R9N7) announced it will invest at least USD $10 million at its ball and roller bearing factory -- Koyo considers it three facilities -- in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

Built in 1975, Orangeburg and another South Carolina facility in Blythewood (built in 1985) are sister operations; Orangeburg manufactures Koyo ball and roller bearings for the auto industry, while Blythewood produces wheel bearing hub assembly units for auto manufacturers in the U.S.

Both should be hard-hit by the automotive downturn, and have had layoffs, but both plants now have expansion plans underway.

In late 2008, Koyo announced Blythewood would be in the receiving end of a $30 million expansion project, to produce two more lines of automotive wheel bearing hub assembly units.
Koyo is a direct and indirect Tier 1 and Tier 2 bearing supplier to Toyota, Honda, Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, and BMW. Koyo's key customers, Toyota and Honda, have been less hard-hit than the others.

Earlier this year, both Orangeburg and Blythewood had layoffs -- 80 of 500 at Orangeburg, and 30 out of 225 at Blythewood -- but those are expected to be temporary measures until the automotive market regains strength.

Koyo did not indicate the expansion program in either plant would result in any new jobs, although it expects existing employment to be more stable.