Greenville Technical College celebrated the official opening of the Center for Welding & Automation Excellence (CWAE) today, cutting ribbon on the 44,000 square foot facility with the help of college and community leaders, elected officials, faculty and staff, students, and those who designed and built the facility including the Goodwyn Mills Cawood architectural firm and Thompson Turner Construction.
The largest and most advanced welding facility in the Southeast, CWAE is designed to address the welding shortage head on. Currently, there are 400,000 welding job openings nationwide and only one new welder prepared to enter the workforce for every four who retire or leave the field.
“At Greenville Technical College, our mission is to empower individuals, change lives, and reshape communities,” said President Larry Miller. “The Center for Welding and Automation Excellence invites students into the future, it gives them skills that mean upward mobility and job security, and by delivering welding talent needed now, it reshapes our community into one that provides opportunity and ensures economic growth.”
The facility is made possible with $15 million from the South Carolina General Assembly and has been outfitted with $3 million in equipment thanks to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham and the federal government. In addition, Fluor has named the main welding lab with a generous gift, a donation from Vermeer Charitable Foundation has allowed naming of the MIG Welding Lab, ORBIS Corporation has made a contribution that places their name on the student breakroom, Liburdi Dimetrics has funded a classroom, Thompson Turner has funded a conference room, and F.W. Symmes Foundation has named an outdoor seating area. Truist Foundation and T & S Brass and Bronze Works have funded equipment and fixtures. In addition, Lincoln Electric, the company that supplied all welding equipment for the building, donated a welding machine, a robot, welding kits for each instructor, and educational toolkits for the program, and Hirebotics supported the college with equipment for the AI lab. Additional spaces in the building are available for naming by contacting the Greenville Tech Foundation.
On the ground floor, the facility features classrooms and labs infused with the latest instructional technology. The country’s only AI-powered welding lab serves as a hands-on demonstration space where AI-powered welding systems are utilized to improve precision, efficiency, and quality in welding processes. A Robotics Welding Lab allows students to master the limitless possibilities of automated welding. A Non-Destructive Testing Lab showcases the essential role of inspection and testing in ensuring the integrity and reliability of welded structures. MIG, pipe, and laser welding labs provide students with cutting-edge training.
Learning spaces have been expanded, increasing capacity from four robotic welding stations to 16 and increasing total welding stations from 90 to 122. When the college’s former welding space was no longer needed, Greenville County Schools stepped in to use it for career center overflow. Between expanded capacity at CWAE and additional career center seats, the college and the school district have expanded capacity from 120 to 486 seats -- a 305% increase -- to meet workforce demand.
In addition to breakout rooms for group work or industry partnership meetings as well as dedicated study space, the building’s second floor features expansive windows overlooking the training taking place below. This overhead viewing area provides a unique way for visitors, students, and industry partners to observe and find inspiration in the innovation and excellence within the facility.