Rolls-Royce’s MTU Aiken Plant Marks Milestone

Rolls-Royce is marking a decade of activity at its Aiken, S.C., engine plant. And at the same time, it’s using the facility to demonstrate to a possible growing future for power generation.

The 395,000 sq. ft. Aiken plant in Graniteville, S.C., which produces off-highway MTU-brand diesel engines, opened in the fall of 2010 when the company decided to move its large engine manufacturing operations from Detroit, Mich. What started off as an assembly plant for two product lines has continually expanded in size and scope over the past decade to become much more.

“The original goal of the Aiken plant was to carve out our own space where we could take greater control over our destiny and our manufacturing here in the U.S.,” said Joerg Klisch, director of Operations at the MTU Aiken plant. “Everything that we’ve been able to achieve here over the past 10 years reflects the positive culture and spirit of innovation that we have. We have continually challenged ourselves to take on the next program or develop the next competency, all with a focus on developing our people and our community along the way.”

The facility began with the assembly of MTU Series 2000 and Series 4000 diesel engines, which together cover a power range from 760 to 4000 hp and are used in a variety of off-highway applications in the construction, industrial, power generation, mining and oil & gas industries. Tognum, which owned MTU before it was acquired by Rolls-Royce, finalized the deal for the 100-acre campus, formerly home to an SKF manufacturing facility, in March of 2010.

By mid-October of the same year the existing 270,000 sq.ft. assembly building was modified and expanded to accommodate assembly and testing of MTU’s Series 2000 and 4000 engines. Following that, the company added machining capacity for a range of large components such as cylinder heads, flywheel housings and gear case housings.

Investments at the facility over the years have also resulted in the addition of the plant’s Research & Development Center, incorporating test cells capable of conducting sophisticated emissions calibration and certification testing, and an administration building where supplier quality, purchasing and scheduling for the facility are located.

The plant has also grown to incorporate military propulsion systems, assembling and conducting complete overhauls of MTU Series 883 engines and power packs used in military applications. The next capability to be added, which is currently in the works, is remanufacturing and overhaul of engines for customers in the Americas.

Beyond manufacturing and operations, the past decade has also seen the establishment of the MTU Aiken Youth Apprenticeship Program, which combines classroom instruction, hands-on training at a local career center and on-the-job training at the plant — is designed to provide high school students with the opportunity to obtain industrial manufacturing work skills and earn a wage, while they learn. To date, 32 high school students have successfully completed the program to graduate high school with a diploma and a certificate in industrial mechanics.

The Aiken site has also been used to explore the growing range of power alternatives. In 2017, a $1.9 million solar panel field was completed, which allowed the facility to provide energy to the local utility grid. With a peak output of 1 MW, the solar panel field, consisting of more than 4200 panels and covering approximately seven acres located next to the MTU Aiken plant, feeds directly into the local power grid and can generate enough clean energy on sunny days to power 500 homes.

The plant will also soon be the site of yet another kind of power system, as early next year, the

And more recently, the plant will be the site of yet another kind of power system, as early next year, the facility is scheduled to bring its microgrid solution online. The microgrid, which will initially be used to provide power to its administration building, will utilize energy from solar panels erected on the employee parking lot, along with an MTU Energy Pack battery container and a Series 4000 natural gas generator set, all managed by an MTU-designed control system.

The microgrid will initially be used to provide power to its administration building. The future case for the microgrid will be to work alongside the utility grid to offset peak energy demand for the entire facility. In addition to benefitting the plant, it will serve as a demonstration opportunity for customers, allowing them to see how microgrids operate and how they can result in reduced energy costs.

“Looking ahead to the future, the Aiken facility aims to broaden its scope to deliver technologies to power de-carbonized energy sources, such as for combining solar, wind power and energy storage capabilities into microgrids and more,” said Klisch. “Our ongoing strategy is always to further diversify our business.”

More details on the MTU Aiken facility and its microgrid installation will be included in an upcoming issue of Diesel Progress.