RBC Bearings Inc., an industry leader in the development of precision bearing products, recently announced that it is locating a new facility in Bishopville, S.C. The company will create 50 new jobs in Lee County.

The company’s products are used for a diverse group of applications, including aerospace, construction, mining and material handling equipment, mobile hydraulics systems, farm machinery, transportation equipment, automation and robotics, machine tool and semiconductor industries, and a host of other industrial applications,

RBC Bearings plans to locate its Bishopville operation in the 40,000 square foot Lee County Speculative Building located at the James Industrial Park. Current plans are to upfit the Lee County Speculative Building.

The company will produce bearing components at its Bishopville facility, which will house its primary machining and heat treatment operations. Grinding and assembly of the components produced at the Bishopville facility will occur at the company’s Hartsville, S.C., facility.

“RBC Bearings has operated facilities in South Carolina since 1966 and we have enjoyed a long period of success with the quality of the workforce we have been able to attract here,” said RBC Bearings Vice President and General Manager Rick Edwards. “The development support provided by South Carolina’s state and local agencies played a major part in our decision to locate this expansion in South Carolina.”

RBC Bearings is a public traded company with 18 facilities located throughout North America and Europe, and employs approximately 1,700 worldwide.

The company has two other facilities in operation in South Carolina. RBC’s Hartsville Plant, in operation since 1966, has a three-shift operation with 214 employees producing high quality bearings for a wide variety of industrial applications. RBC’s Walterboro Plant, acquired in 1996, has 57 employees producing high precision ballscrews for use in linear motion applications.

Major customers for RBC Bearing’s products produced in South Carolina include such companies as Caterpillar, John Deere, Komatsu, Case New Holland, Parker Hannifin, B.J.Varco Drilling Systems, R.H. Sheppard, Federal Mogul, and TRW.