The Upstate has become a nexus of automation companies over the last couple of decades, serving an assortment of South Carolina’s industries. Manufacturers in the textile, automotive, and other industries have turned to Industry 4.0 tools such as AI, IoT, and robotics to boost efficiency, trim costs, and in some cases, eliminate physically demanding jobs.
Thorsten “Thor” Wuest, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of South Carolina’s Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing, is a globally recognized expert on smart manufacturing. Wuest views South Carolina as one of the more innovative states in the march toward Industry 4.0. He attributes this to the manufacturers that have moved to the state in recent years.
“Some of the big OEMs from Europe drive the move to 4.0 for the suppliers,” he says. “It comes down to qualified workforce. If you don’t have the engineers who know about it, there are problems implementing it. Here in South Carolina, there is access to a very qualified workforce, through the institutions that educate them, and the employment opportunities that are here. We hire a lot of experts from all over the world.”
Wuest says Industry 4.0, coupled with the robotics that were brought about by Industry 3.0, is starting to automate repetitive, strenuous burn-out tasks, so that workers can focus on problem-solving and innovating.
“The term 4.0 is so broad that it can mean both everything and nothing. Some see it as more of a political term that is an umbrella for this next generation of industry. But there are certain technologies that are typically associated with 4.0, at least 10.”
These include AI, digital twins, IoT (internet of things), 3D printing, and robotics. Wuest says few companies use all of the tools. He likens it to a toolbox, with companies choosing what they need.
“Some of them are more regularly used, like AI machine learning, because that can be applied to so many things. Some are more fundamental technologies that are used across the board. Others are more specialized, and are more dependent on the type of industry.”
Spartanburg-based Milliken & Co., a global material science company with more than 70 locations worldwide, is known for its innovation and its embracing of new technologies. That reputation rings true in terms of the adoption of advanced automation.
Michael Brown, Milliken & Company’s executive vice president of operations, describes Industry 4.0 tools as a necessity for the manufacturer’s 161-year-old business. Adopting the latest technologies has kept the company on the front end of innovation.
“Industry 4.0 certainly provides that for us. Specifically, it provides the data and automation we need to continue to improve our operations. We're using it to improve product quality, product safety, and plant safety. It obviously is helping us improve the reliability of our assets. We're doing that through a combination of technologies, whether it's the use of AI tools, whether it's the use of new robotics, or potentially different software platforms.”
Milliken uses automation to help reduce ergonomic risks from labor-intensive tasks in its plants. Robots have been added to make those jobs more effective and efficient in packaging and manual handling areas.
“We've used AI tools to help improve our safety culture and understand the behaviors and the different challenges within the plant in terms of working conditions. We have AI software that we use to monitor and analyze that. We are also using more sensors these days, to analyze our process, and feed that data into AI models that pick up on anomalies or changes. That allows us to be more responsive to quality and reliability issues.”
Milliken uses its data collection to understand the health of its assets, such as machinery. Brown says an unplanned breakdown of a machine typically costs three times as much to repair as the cost of a planned maintenance job.
“If you can understand the health of your assets, such that you can plan those jobs well before you experience a breakdown or a failure, you're much more efficient, much more capable, and the jobs typically are safer, because they're planned,” Brown says.
Milliken is in the process of implementing what Brown describes as a “prescriptive” maintenance program that uses sensors on equipment to collect data on that operation. It is monitored continuously and analyzed through an AI service, to pick up anomalies in the performance of the operation.
“This gives us early indication before we ever get to the point of a failure or a breakdown, and in many cases, we can mitigate it without additional repair,” Brown says. “If we do need a repair, we can plan it, and it's much more effective. As a result, our output and our overall efficiency is stronger.”
Milliken uses a “test-and-learn” process. Technologies are evaluated for fit, to determine if there is a strong business justification. Sometimes technology is tested at one plant, or at a single machinery installation.
“We'll work to learn as much as we can from that implementation, and then from that we'll make a decision. I don't call those challenges, but we've tried some things that don't work. I think that's part of the journey, especially as you explore the front edge of new technology, it's not surprising things may not pan out the way you'd like.”
It has been somewhat of a hurdle acclimating experienced textile workers to the new systems. Brown says Milliken employees are enjoying the transition.
“While we're not struggling with it, it is a challenge, making sure our workforce is ready to use these tools. It's a different set of skills and capabilities. Once upon a time, industries like textiles were very labor-intensive. Now we are beginning to put in robotics and automation and instrumentation, those technologies may take over some tasks that were once manual. It creates a new set of responsibilities around how you maintain those assets, who will interpret data, and who will oversee the automation.”
Vendor offerings are developing rapidly. Brown says Milliken has sometimes worked with vendors with mature products on the back end of adoption. In other cases, the company has been on the front end, developing capabilities with service providers, serving as early adopters, helping them refine tools. Milliken also has developed in-house capabilities.
The reaction of Milliken’s long-time production employees has been positive. Automation has allowed older employees, who aren’t as physically capable as they once were, to contribute in new ways, using their experience without the manual labor elements their jobs once required. Overall, there has been no fear about accepting Industry 4.0, because improvements in efficiency and quality have been quickly evident.
“From all of the locations I've been to, we've seen fantastic receptions to this new set of capabilities. There's been rapid adoption. A lot of the tasks we're automating are roles that we struggle to fill, because of the manual labor, and because of a waning interest in manufacturing in culture today, those jobs are harder to fill, and we can now cover those through automation, which addresses a talent gap for us. It then frees up the people we do have to go contribute in bigger and better ways,” Brown says.
Integrion Automation is one of several robotics systems integrators with operations in the Greenville area. The Wauseon, Ohio-headquartered firm acquired McAlister Design & Automation in 2022.
Chris Knorr, director of sales and applications for Integrion’s Robotic Automation division, says Integrion saw McAlister as an impactful addition, due to the Greenville company’s history of innovation, and its location in the middle of a diverse manufacturing region.
Integrion’s Greenville operation serves a varied group of industries, including medical, automotives, “general industries,” and a small number of solar panel manufacturers.
“It’s consistent with South Carolina manufacturing, and across the board,” says Mark Cianciosa, Integrion’s business development manager in Greenville.
“Lately, we’ve seen a lot more in the automotive and tier one and tier two automotive products. There are some projects we're working on with one of the larger textile companies out of Spartanburg. We also do some work with the flooring industry as well, which is more out of the northern Georgia area.”
“We do a lot of laser marking applications in an assembly line,” Cianciosa says. “Typically, the customer will come to us and say, ‘I'm trying to accomplish this task with the product,’ and we analyze that task and what they're trying to do, and our teams develop a custom system to solve that problem. So, there would be a lot of robotic arms and then a lot of custom-built machinery to handle that customer's product.”
Pam Watson, Integrion’s business unit leader for field service, says the Greenville area offers plenty of opportunities for growth. Greenville is now the base of the company’s field service business.
“We are concentrating on serving customers, not only here in the Southeast, but also the Midwest. We see a lot of manufacturers today that have challenges in their workforce, so the problem could be either turnover or the lack of technical ability. We've been partnering with existing customers that we had for McAlister, as well as expanding and getting new customers. We do anything from servicing their equipment to training their staff. We are definitely looking to grow more here in Greenville.”
Knorr says much of the acquisition flurry in the automation sector over the past five years has been generated by private-equity-owned businesses as a means to gain scale.
“Integrion Automation is slightly different in that we're a privately owned business. We have a long-term business objective to grow the business and develop our people in ways that allow us to better serve our clients. We view the benefits of acquisition from a different lens, and look at acquisitions that bring new technology advantages to us and to our business.”
Integrion expects South Carolina to continue to see industrial investment, and Greenville as a great strategic location for the company to continue to grow. Knorr says as new technologies develop, Integrion will be able to serve new manufacturing segments that have not realized paybacks on automation. He cites as an example high mix, low volume (HMLV) manufacturing. He says AI tools are advancing in areas such as defect inspection and random palletizing.
Edgewater Automation, which has a major facility in Spartanburg, provides custom automation systems for the automotive industry in South Carolina, and systems for the defense sector and consumer goods manufacturers in other states. Edgewater works with companies to determine their needs. Some are new to automation.
“If they're new to automation, it probably means that we have to help them understand how best automation can be applied to their need,” says Jason Lundy, managing director. “As we get more details around that need, we'll bring in an applications engineer. With those newer customers, they usually won't have a formal request for quotation, and they won't have a set of specifications and standards, so it takes a lot of input from our commercial team to help define how we're going to go about helping that customer.”
If an industrial client has been automating for a while, Lundy says they usually provide Edgewater with a formal request for quote that is a more defined detail of what they want. Edgewater takes that information and looks at the best technical solution to fill that need. An application engineer works on a concept, and then comes up with the cost for that concept, working with the customer to develop the best solution.
“If it's a project that is allocated to this facility, we do the design in-house. We work with our supplier network to do some machining. We have internal machining as well, and we do all of the build commissioning, debug, and troubleshooting, and support the installation from our facility. We can utilize some resources in Michigan, if we need to. But the projects that are executed here, we do have a full complement of every discipline where we can execute those from our facility."
Edgewater, which is headquartered in Michigan, added the Spartanburg operation in 2013 with six employees housed at Spartanburg Community College’s Tyger River Campus's Center for Business and Entrepreneurial Development. A few months later the company moved to a building formerly operated by Somet, a textile weaving machine supplier. The company now employs 52 in Spartanburg.
Lundy says Spartanburg has been great geographically, allowing Edgewater easy proximity to customers in Atlanta, Knoxville, Charlotte, Anderson, and Charleston.
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Advanced manufacturers in South Carolina are benefitting from research at universities, including work conducted at the University of South Carolina’s Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing.
Thor Wuest heads USC’s Smart Manufacturing Lab, which focuses on cutting-edge applied research in areas like AI and Machine Learning and Industry 4.0. He is also in charge of the Future Factories lab located in USC’s McNair Center. He was hired by USC in 2024 from West Virginia University, where he built a global reputation as a thought leader in smart manufacturing. He works with a mix of large and small companies around the state, performing in-depth research.
“South Carolina is a manufacturing state, and growing rapidly,” Wuest says. “We work with many (manufacturers) very actively, and are in touch with others. Automotive is a big industry here, and of course their different suppliers, like Siemens, that supply a lot of the German automotive manufacturers, like BMW in Spartanburg, and Mercedes in Charleston, and now, Scout.”
Wuest says Siemens brings that expertise to the shop floor, connecting the plants to the machine tools. That is an example of an area where companies in certain industries can advance rather quickly, by using a digital twin or replica for tools and equipment, to run through certain options and simulate them, before actually doing it in the physical world.
“Small companies have a big disadvantage with that. There are exceptions, such as a few specialty manufacturers for segments of the defense or medical industries. But in general, only a few big companies can really compete in that space. For the small companies, it may be difficult to have the expertise in-house. They may not have a dedicated consulting team that can go from plant to plant.”
Wuest, along with his staff and students, works on a variety of projects for companies as well as advancing technologies independently. He says his lab is special in that it is focused on applied science.
Wuest’s team is currently working with the Mercedes-Benz plant in Charleston, to help them improve their spot welding.
“We want to work on problems that come directly from our industry partners or elsewhere in the real world. They are not always theoretical problems. That makes up the research we do. Some projects are industry funded, where we work with a partner on a problem they have and bring our expertise on the machine or the process to develop a solution that improves the bottom line.”
“For example, we work with a machine company with two facilities with 200 to 400 people, and they are a market leader in their space,” Wuest says. “They have the technology and the capability of connecting their systems and giving us the data, and then implementing the change that we found. We work with others, like the big OEMs here, that have the capacity and interest in engaging in solutions based on Industry 4.0 technologies.”
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