Center for Manufacturing Innovation at Greenville Technical College celebrates milestone

Rodgers celebrated reaching a significant milestone on Greenville Technical College’s new Center for Manufacturing Innovation in Greenville, SC. Guests watched as the last piece of steel structure was raised, bearing an American flag and evergreen tree to symbolize safe attainment of the highest point.

“We are happy to celebrate this milestone at the Center for Manufacturing Innovation and to see momentum for this project continue to build,” said Dr. Keith Miller, president of Greenville Technical College. “The idea for this campus began with the needs of employers. Advanced manufacturers share in our excitement as we get closer to being able to create a supply of highly skilled new employees and to increase the skills of current employees so that companies in the Upstate can compete globally.”

The 100,000-square-foot Center for Manufacturing Innovation is located at the Millennium Campus adjacent to the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR). The facility will offer specialized advanced technological training in manufacturing. Technologies will include CNC machines, EDM, multiple-axis lathes, PLCs and robotics, hydraulics and pneumatics, rapid prototype equipment for 3-D modeling, stereo lithography, selective laser sintering, and deposition modeling.

In addition to offering a curriculum to develop skills for a high-tech workforce, the center will support research, entrepreneurship, and the development and implementation of advanced manufacturing in collaboration with industry partners.

“We are very proud to be involved with the new Center for Manufacturing Innovation for Greenville Technical College, and we’re excited about its future impact on the growth of the regional economy, increasing the highly skilled workforce available to industry,” said Pat Rodgers, president and CEO of Rodgers Builders, Inc. “Today, we’re here to celebrate what has been accomplished to date: 557 tons of structural steel have been put in place, 1,612 cubic yards of concrete have been poured, and approximately 25,000 total hours have been worked safely by all the trades on this project.”