Quick answer: Automate America has a contract for one machine tool builder in Simpsonville, South Carolina, building new automated assembly equipment for automotive manufacturing. It is the mechanical side of the trade — reading blueprints, general mechanical assembly of details, and running pneumatic hoses to build up new systems; no electrical experience required. The contract runs 10 weeks starting June 22, 2026, with potential for more work, and pays $56.00 per hour plus a $200.00 daily per diem. You can view and apply on the contract page for free, or a hiring company can search the marketplace and request a builder directly. It sits in the heart of the South Carolina Upstate, one of the fastest-growing automotive manufacturing regions in the country.
The trade most people never see
Most people in manufacturing watch the robots. The few who actually run the floor watch the people who build the robots’ machines first. Every automated line you have ever seen started as a stack of steel and a blueprint on a bare concrete floor. Somebody built it by hand before a single cycle ever ran.
That somebody is the machine tool builder. The trade goes by a dozen names — toolmaker, tool and die maker, fixture builder — and it is at the heart of every project, in every industry, from aerospace to food and beverage to automotive. These are the professionals who lay the line out on the concrete, work alongside the riggers and the millwrights to set it, and assemble the highly accurate part-holding, test, and welding fixtures that decide whether a line ever runs right — from certifying an aerospace fixture with laser alignment and a theodolite crew alongside the QA teams, to maintaining the fixtures that keep production moving.
The contract in Simpsonville
If you have ever stepped back at the end of a build and known — not hoped, known — that the line would run because you made it true, then this is not just a job posting to you. It is your craft. And right now it is needed in Simpsonville.
- Role: Machine tool builder (mechanical side of automated assembly equipment)
- Location: Simpsonville, SC (Greenville County, Upstate South Carolina)
- Scope: Read blueprints, general mechanical assembly of details, run pneumatic hoses to build up new automotive assembly systems
- Start: June 22, 2026 · Duration: 10 weeks, with potential for more work
- Rate: $56.00/hour plus a $200.00 daily per diem
Why this work is everywhere in the Upstate right now
What would have to be true for a small city like Simpsonville to need a specialist builder on a ten-week clock? Look at the region. The South Carolina Upstate is in the middle of the biggest automotive build-out in its history. BMW is investing $1.7 billion to expand its South Carolina operations, including electric-vehicle assembly and a new high-voltage battery plant, with EV assembly slated to begin by the end of 2026. The carmaker also opened its first North American press shop in Greer, and battery-cell investment is landing across Greenville County. Every one of those announcements is, eventually, a physical line that has to be built by hand, on the floor, by machine tool builders. (This particular contract is posted by a company that prefers to stay unnamed; the regional boom is simply the backdrop.)
Skills, credentials, and where to sharpen them
The core of this role is mechanical: precise blueprint reading, disciplined mechanical assembly, and clean pneumatic build-up of new systems. The National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) offers nationally recognized machining credentials that map directly to tool-building work. Locally, Greenville Technical College and the broader South Carolina Technical College System run machine tool technology and mechatronics programs feeding exactly this demand, and Automation World tracks where the industry is heading. Machine tool builders work beside a whole bench of related trades on Automate America — maintenance technicians, manufacturing engineers, and quality engineers.
Why Automate America — the smart alternative to job boards and staffing companies
Automate America is a global marketplace of thousands of skilled professionals across hundreds of specialties — trusted professionals with completed contracts and customer reviews. It works two ways, both built for speed. A company can post a contract, a job, or an RFQ for free and see qualified applicants within minutes — or search the marketplace and request the exact builder it needs. Professionals can browse open contracts and follow the companies building the work they want. Is it really free to post? Yes. Will you be buried in unqualified applicants? No — you see real profiles and decide who to talk to. How fast does specialized work fill? You see qualified applicants within minutes of posting.
The line is waiting on a pair of hands
A year from now, the line in Simpsonville will be running — fixtures holding tolerance, automotive systems quietly doing their job. None of that happens without the builder who shows up on June 22 and makes it true. If that builder is you, you already know it, and you do not need much convincing to put your name on the contract. If it is someone you know, send them this. Browse more open work on the Automate America news and contracts hub.
Tony Wallace, Co-Founder · Automate America · Text/Call 586-770-8083 · info@automateamerica.com
