A Package Deal for Gaffney
Gaffney is getting a $5.31 million manufacturing investment, 136 expected jobs and a new player in the local industrial economy, all courtesy of a company whose business is making sure everybody else’s products arrive in one piece.
More Than Boxes and Pallets
UFP Packaging is expanding its South Carolina footprint with a new operation in Cherokee County, according to the South Carolina governor’s office. The Gaffney facility is expected to begin operations in the second quarter of 2027 and will manufacture wood packaging products.
That may sound straightforward until you consider what industrial packaging actually has to do. UFP Packaging produces everything from wood pallets and crates to corrugated boxes and structural steel packaging, serving companies with products that are often large, heavy, expensive or complicated to move.
The company is a subsidiary of UFP Industries and already operates two facilities in Orangeburg County. Adding Gaffney gives the business more capacity to serve industrial customers with complex packaging and logistics needs across the Southeast and beyond.
For Cherokee County, though, the headline number is 136.
A Supply Chain Investment Close to Home
Those expected jobs give the project significance beyond another building on an industrial site. Manufacturing growth tends to arrive with a long supporting cast, and packaging sits squarely in that ecosystem. Manufacturers and agribusinesses need ways to protect, store and transport what they make, which means the companies producing the packaging are part of the supply chain keeping other industries moving.
The Gaffney project also adds another investment to South Carolina’s broader manufacturing economy while placing new employment in one of the state’s rural counties. Anyone interested in future opportunities with the company can follow openings through UFP Industries Careers as the project moves toward its planned 2027 opening.
There is something fitting about a packaging company becoming part of South Carolina’s industrial growth story. The finished crates and pallets may eventually disappear behind warehouse doors and loading docks, but the jobs, investment and added manufacturing capacity will be considerably easier to spot in Cherokee County.
For a closer look at the companies helping build South Carolina’s industrial economy, explore the Guide to South Carolina manufacturing directory at https://guidetosouthcarolina.com/manufacturing.