Hengst Filtration, which makes filtration systems for automotive and medical applications, will layoff 77 workers at its facility in Camden, according to a WARN statement with the Department of Employment and Workforce last week.
The notice states that permanent layoffs will happen between July and September.
Hengst is the second Germany-based company to announce layoffs in South Carolina this month. Logistics and materials firm thyssenkrupp filed a WARN statement on May 4, two days before Hengst's announcement, stating that it will lay off 110 workers in Greer.
Those layoffs, according to the company, are a response to the effects of conflicts on the global supply chain.
Hengst did not say why it’s laying off 77 workers in South Carolina.
Its announcement, however, continues a string of layoffs in the state this year. While the number of layoffs so far in 2025 — 2,055, according to DEW — is slightly higher compared to the 1,820 layoffs to date this point a year ago, the number of companies laying workers off and closing operations in the state has doubled in the same time frame.
By the second week of last May, 10 companies had announced layoffs — including Limestone University, which let go 478 workers in Gaffney. To date this May, 20 companies have laid off workers in South Carolina, including a pair of layoff announcements at KPR, a medical supplies company in Kershaw County.
