The Center for Manufacturing Innovation (CMI) Campus, which celebrates ten years of growing talent to close the skills gap for advanced manufacturing employers, was named today for Greenville Technical College’s second president, Dr. Keith Miller. President Emeritus Keith Miller envisioned this industry-focused center that puts education on display, inviting visitors into the learning process and showcasing the robotics and electronics used in the highly skilled, highly paid jobs in this sector.
“As CMI supports the talent requirements of the Upstate’s advanced manufacturing employers while placing its graduates on a path to career success, it will carry the name of the man who saw what could be and then made it happen,” said Dr. Larry Miller, president of Greenville Technical College (GTC). “The college and the community are grateful to Dr. Keith Miller for the vision and drive that created this innovative solution to workforce needs.”
CMI opened its doors in 2016 as a new approach to advanced manufacturing education. The programs offered – mechatronics, CNC machining, and electronics engineering technology – are industry aligned, giving graduates the skills and experience to move straight into high-demand roles.
CMI brings research and education together in one facility, bridging the gap between the training of the technician and that of the engineer through a partnership with Clemson University. Student teams made up of members from both institutions work together to solve real-world manufacturing challenges.
Since 2019, CMI has served as home to the state’s only bachelor’s degree at the two-year college level, a degree in advanced manufacturing that prepares graduates for technical and managerial leadership. Before this degree was developed, someone with an associate degree in an advanced manufacturing field who wanted to move into management had to start over if they wanted to earn a bachelor’s degree. Now, students can use their two-year degree as a stepping stone to bachelor’s completion and the opportunities that come with it. The bachelor’s degree program has grown tremendously since its inception, almost 2,000 percent since it was first offered.
Enrollment in the programs offered at CMI has also shown strong growth over the past decade. When the facility opened in 2016, 130 students were taking Mechatronics classes, and 57 students were enrolled in the CNC/Machine Tool program. Since that time, the number of students served has grown by 200 percent, and the scope of education offered at CMI has increased. The college now offers all advanced manufacturing-related programs at CMI.
The facility opened with equipment valued at approximately $3 million dollars. Today, through partnerships with manufacturing leaders and the generosity of donors, CMI features an array of teaching tools valued at five times that much.
Over ten years, CMI has welcomed 35,000 visitors. This includes elementary, middle, and high school students who are exposed to exciting career paths with the top employers who make the Upstate a manufacturing hub. In addition, the facility is integral to economic development prospect visits, with the Greenville Area Development Corporation hosting 67 employer visits at the site. Many Fortune 500 companies, including GE, Michelin, and BMW, have been part of CMI offerings, and national and international chambers of commerce have visited, hoping to replicate the successful educational model they see at CMI.
“CMI continues to spark progress. In fact, its impact has been greater than I could possibly have imagined at the outset,” said President Emeritus Keith Miller. “I am grateful to the Greenville Technical College Area Commission for their decision to allow this center to bear my name. The 17 years I spent as president of GTC were the highlight of my career, and this recognition puts an exclamation point on that very wonderful sentence.”