Sundaram-Clayton Limited (SCL), a manufacturer and supplier of aluminum die-cast components to global automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), recently unveiled its first U.S. manufacturing operations in Dorchester County.

Headquartered in India, SCL is one of the leading aluminum die-casters in the country. Its customers include major global automotive OEMs across the automotive industry in the U.S., Europe, and India.

The U.S. facility has been built with a project investment of $90 million, which will create as many as 230 new jobs over the next five years. The unit, at full capacity, will employ 77% more people than the initially estimated workforce of 130. The investment is also about 80% higher than the original outlay of $50 million.

SCL has a built a greenfield plant on 50 acres in the Ridgeville Industrial Campus in Dorchester County. It will produce aluminum high-pressure die-cast products and permanent mould gravity die-cast products for its customers. Production will commence in September 2019 with 100 employees.

The US Department of Commerce and its trade promotion arm, the U.S. Commercial Services in Chennai, was a key facilitator for this project.

SCL’s South Carolina plant will be supplying components to its key customers in the U.S. Setting up a foundry on-shore in the U.S. will enable SCL to cut lead times significantly and to provide a more responsive service to its local customers.

It will produce 1,000 tons of castings in the first year. At full capacity, the foundry will be able to produce 10,000 tons of castings per annum.

SCL’s South Carolina plant will maintain Total Quality Management (TQM) and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). This will ensure SCL’s commitment to supply the highest quality across locations.