GE Appliances, a Haier company, has opened its $70 million state-of-the-art water heating manufacturing plant in Camden, SC. The plant will initially employ 140 people.

During the construction and in preparation for launch, more than 50 team leaders and maintenance employees completed more than 5,700 hours of training in robotics, welding and mechatronics at nearby Central Carolina Technical College (CCTC).

The plant, which sits on a site built for future expansion, is vertically integrated and will produce units starting from coils of steel into high-quality water heaters for homes across the US. The new plant includes advanced systems for metal fabrication and welding, robotics for material handling and processing, and enameling of the steel. Since 2016, GE Appliances has invested $2 billion in its US manufacturing and distribution operations, adding more than 3,000 new employees and creating an additional 88,000 jobs in the nation’s economy.