Atlas Copco Produces First Compressor at New Rock Hill Plant

Atlas Copco has produced its first piece of equipment, an XAS 185 portable air compressor, at its new production facility in Rock Hill, S.C. Construction on the new facility began in Jan. 2016, and includes lean manufacturing features to enable efficient and flexible processes that are sustainable for the environment.

Michael Roth

March 16, 2017

Atlas Copco39s Rock Hill crew with the first air compressor produced at the new plant — Atlas Copco's Rock Hill crew with the first air compressor produced at the new plant.

Atlas Copco plans to produce a range of machines including generators and stationary air compressors at the new plant.

“We have a continued commitment to the U.S. market,” said Scott Carnell, Atlas Copco U.S. president. “This commitment is more than our ongoing innovations in equipment design. It also involves being close to our customers, and our new facility helps us achieve that.”

Atlas Copco built the facility to enhance its support for the North American construction market. The 180,000-square-foot plant is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified and serves as the production and assembly facility for Atlas Copco’s North American Construction Technique division. Several Atlas Copco team members commemorated the event by signing the compressor as it exited the production line.

Atlas Copco’s new building is in one of Rock Hill's newest mixed-use developments, Riverwalk Business Park, and replaces the company’s original facility in Rock Hill.

About the Author

Michael Roth

Editor

Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.