Renishaw Partners with Technical College in South Carolina

Renishaw Inc. and the Center for Manufacturing Innovation (CMI) at Greenville Technical College (GTC) in Greenville, South Carolina, have formed a partnership to address the manufacturing skills gap and train the next generation of engineers and machine operators. This collaboration between education, industry and community partners combines education/training, research and economic development in a region of the country where the aerospace, power generation and automotive industries are said to be rapidly developing. CMI’s status as an “Enterprise Campus” enables the program to contribute to the local economy through production and delivery of goods and services.

The CMI campus includes a 100,000-square-foot facility with a metrology lab, prototyping lab, pneumatics/hydraulics lab and additive manufacturing area. Students take courses in industrial automation, robotics, CNC machining, manufacturing management, metrology/quality management, process design and Lean Six Sigma, among others. Renishaw has committed a four-person staff to the program as well as a host of the company’s equipment. Renishaw’s Lucy Ackland and Bill Cox are program liaisons, and two engineers are on-hand for demo support and assistance. Students are learning part measurement on the Equator gaging system, calibrating machines with the QC20-W wireless ballbar, and setting up machines with an assortment of Renishaw probes and styli. Renishaw has also placed one of its AM400 additive manufacturing systems at CMI.

“Additive is the future of manufacturing and we have one of the most advance metal additive machines available, right here for our students to learn on,” says Scotty Nicholson, machine tool instructor, CMI.

“The CMI program at Greenville Tech, presented as part of an educational partnership with Clemson University, provides a direct path to employment, and employers get the benefit of highly skilled employees,” Nicholson says. “There are four career centers in Greenville County and 16 high schools that feed students into CMI, as well as an apprenticeship program with many major employers. Students earn a two-year degree and are typically funneled directly into manufacturing jobs where the average salary is currently $63,936 for associates-degree holders in Greenville County.”

The company considers this a pilot program for similar partnerships across the United States.