CHERAW, SC — Schaeffler will make a $1 million donation to the Northeastern Technical College Foundation to create the Schaeffler Center for Advanced Manufacturing on NETC’s Cheraw campus.

The investment, which is one of the largest made to a technical college in the state, will help build a new 27,500 sq. ft. state-of-the-art training facility with machinery used by local industry for hands-on training.
NETC and Schaeffler have successfully partnered for over 33 years with an apprenticeship program that has gained both state and national recognition. The program has produced over 223 graduates, and has a high retention rate with many graduates still working for the company years later.
“Our success in Cheraw has been in part due to our successful apprenticeship program, which has developed local workforce to be prepared for our manufacturing operations,” said Jim Lanter, Director of Operations at Schaeffler.
“We can now take this program to the next level with the new state-of-the art training center, allowing us to expand into new technologies and keep us competitive on a global scale right here in South Carolina.”
The future training center is a major component of the college’s multiphase plan to renovate the Cheraw campus by removing older buildings and creating new training centers for workforce development. Programs to be housed in the advanced manufacturing center will include electronic engineering, mechanical engineering, mechatronics, production operator, machine tool, and CNC operator.