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MANUFACTURING

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Center aims to be showcase for manufacturing by Bill Poovey bpoovey@gsabusiness.com

he Center for Manufacturing Innovation will be more than a Greenville Technical College-Clemson University training and research collaboration when it opens in August, the center’s director said. David Clayton said the campus will have an equally important role as a recruiting showcase for manufacturing and economic development in Greenville County and the Upstate. “I think the appearance is definitely a big part of it,” Clayton said of the $25 million, county-financed project as he walked around construction crews. He said that the rainy weather last fall temporarily slowed work on the two-level building just off Millennium Boulevard but that it is “walled in” and should open as scheduled for the Greenville Tech semester that starts Aug. 22. The showcase factor comes into play when prospective students, their parents, community groups and visiting manufacturers arrive through the front entrance on the upper level of the largewindowed, airy structure. From that vantage point, visitors will look over training in mechatronics, computer controlled machinery and robotics, among others. The 100,000-square-foot building’s interior is designed with open work spaces and see-through partitions. It includes a manufacturing incubator, 22 offices and meeting areas. “So for a student, visitor, parents or

David Clayton, director of the Center for Manufacturing Innovation, said construction is on pace for an Aug. 22 opening when Greenville Technical College’s fall semester starts. (Photo/Bill Poovey)

guidance counselors who don’t get to go into many manufacturing facilities, most of them are closed for safety or intellectual property or security, this is a great way we can bring in groups … They stand up there and look down,” Clayton said. “We can talk to them about what they are seeing from above and then they can come down and tour the whole facility.” Showing off the automation and advanced manufacturing workplace will help counter a “lack of interest by young people in manufacturing as a career,” a Greenville Tech statement said. Clayton said he and others involved in getting the center operating are “not staking our claim to fame on the equip-

ment.” He said the main factor is the partnership with Clemson. He said the center will feature a collaborative class featuring students from Greenville Tech and Clemson. Those students will range in experience from those having a certificate to those with doctorates. “We hope to bring these advanced manufacturing certificate students from Clemson’s undergraduate programs,” Clayton said, adding it will “be jointly taught” by Greenville Tech and Clemson faculty. “So what we hear a lot from industry is they want the technicians to think a little bit more like engineers to understand design, to understand the business of

manufacturing and process efficiencies,” Clayton said. “They want the engineers to think a little bit more like technicians. So you can design a product all day long but unless you know how it is made, it is hard to run a profitable business.” Clayton said that the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research is “about 200 yards away, but it’s more than proximity. It is a true partnership. We have a formal agreement.” Clemson is leasing a 10,000-squarefoot area of the center for research. “We are looking at the manufacture of composite material for use in lightweighting of vehicles,” Clayton said. He said that while the main research partners are coming from CU-ICAR much of “this basic research can be used in other industries. Look at mobile robotics. If we bring a robot that is roaming around to deliver parts, that could be used in the power industries or aerospace just like automotive.” The center’s planned Manufacturing Honors College, which Clayton said is expected to be the first at a two-year college in the U.S., will provide an “advanced, high-quality and challenging program of coursework built on real world experiences.” The center will offer dual credit programs with Greenville County schools, bridge programs that allow a student to move from associate degree to bachelor’s degree, and workforce training and certificate programs that increase workplace qualifications, a statement said. see CENTER, page 2

The new Center for Manufacturing Innovation at Greenville Tech will be more than just a collaborative center for education, but a tool to recruit talent to the Upstate, the center’s director said. (Photo/Bill Poovey)

Center, continued from page 1 Executives at BMW, Michelin, GE, Bosch Rexroth, Adex Machining Technologies, League Manufacturing, Jtekt Koyo, Fabri-Kal, SpecFab Services, Master PT and Standard Motor Products are among center supporters and some companies are contributing equipment or providing it at lower cost. During the tour, Clayton pointed out an area that will be a “metrology lab with state-of-the-art measurement equipment.” “You can machine something to within a thousandth of an inch, but can you measure it? We’ll be doing that to make sure tolerances are met,” he said. “We are talking about a quarter measuring machine with a probe, a laser scanner and a lot of cool technology there.” Clayton said “additive manufacturing is something you hear a lot about, 3-D printing. We have a room dedicated to that upstairs. A student, a parent can come in and see engineering design, prototyping, research, manufacturing, all in one building. So it gives them that exposure to full product lifecycle. On additive manufacturing, there is prototyping but there is also building real parts.” He said some companies are “3-D printing from metal … We will have a 3-D printer that will print metal.” Beyond the $25 million provided by a county bond issue funding the building and property, Clayton said Greenville Tech is seeking a $15 million state appropriation for equipment. “Hopefully we’ll come through with that and really be able to bring on line the technology the manufacturing community expects,” Clayton said. “We do have to weigh the interest of training the technician of the future to work on the equipment they will see on the factory

floor today and also training them for what they will see in five years. That is a challenge, and you can’t meet all of the needs all the time. We are trying to hit as many of those boxes as we can.” Early in the legislative budget process for 2017, the House Ways and Means Committee has instead approved $8 million for the center. Clayton said $15 million is needed to equip it. “We are grateful for anything,” Clayton said of the committee approving $8 million. “It limits the number of students that can come through. It limits the scope of technology … We are looking at additive manufacturing, the concept they call the digital factory or connected factory. That’s the way industry is moving.” House Ways and Means Chairman Brian White, R-Anderson, said the $8 million in the committee-approved budget is not likely to increase “the way it is looking now.” White said Greenville Tech leaders previously requested much less and said state funding was not essential. “The original request some years ago was only $5 million. Now it is $15 million,” the budget chairman said. “I don’t know what happened between then and now.” White said the center funding request is “in competition with road money” and there are 16 technical colleges to fund. Clayton, a Clemson engineering graduate who previously worked as a S.C. Department of Commerce research executive, said the center plans to accommodate about 200 students by the spring semester. “This will be a novel approach,” he said. “The main idea is we want to improve the quality of graduates but also improve the quantity of graduates.” Reach Bill Poovey at 864-235-5677, ext. 104.

BMW Manufacturing exports hit nearly $10B by Matthew Clark mclark@scbiznews.com

he BMW Manufacturing Co. plant in Greer became the company’s leading exporter by value in 2015. The company said the value of exports coming out of the Greer plant and through the Port of Charleston was $9.8 billion. That was a 7.8% increase over the value in 2014, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. In 2014, the value of exports from the BMW plant was approximately $9.2 billion, which was a 13% increase over 2013. “2015 was a great year for BMW in the United States … We had a record production year and a record sales year,” said Manfred Erlacher, BMW Manufacturing Co. president and CEO, in a statement. “These achievements are significant and clearly reinforce BMWs ongoing commitment to the U.S.” More than 280,000 vehicles were exported from the S.C. plant in 2015, over 70% of the total volume of the plant, according to the company. In August 2015, BMW Group, parent company to BMW Manufacturing Co., said the Upstate facility was positioned to be the largest production facility in the BMW network thanks to its $1 billion. Currently, the plant produces more than 1,400 vehicles

each day and is the sole exporter of the company’s X3, X4, X5 and X6 models. Of the 346,023 sales recorded by BMW in 2015, nearly 30% were from the Upstateproduced X models as the plant set a record of 400,904 vehicles produced. BMW said the S.C. facility exports to more than 140 global markets. According to the International Trade Administration, South Carolina exported more than $15 billion in transportation equipment to world markets in 2015. Germany received $3.35 billion of those exports, while China received just over $3 billion. Other countries receiving large transportation equipment exports from the state were the United Kingdom at $2.54 billion, Japan at $1.1 billion and Canada at $1 billion. BMW Group recently announced setting a global sales record in January 2016 with 152,879 in sales across the group, including BMW and Mini. The X3 model had a 16.6% jump in sales compared with January 2015, while sales of the X6 increased by 24.2%. The plant produced about 25,000 X models in January 2016. The BMW Manufacturing Co. plant employs 8,000 and has 270 suppliers in North America, including 70 in South Carolina. Reach Matthew Clark at 864-235-5677, ext. 107, or @matthewclark76 on Twitter.

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