Dr. Keith Miller is president of Greenville Technical College, past chairman of the board for the American Association of Community Colleges, and a former member of the board for the American Council on Education. He serves on the boards of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce, Urban League of the Upstate, and United Way of Greenville County.
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We hear a lot about advanced manufacturing in our area because it’s a cornerstone of our economy. It tops the list of contributors to the gross regional product, it contributes more in total wages to the local economy than any other industry, and it’s behind only one other industry for number of individuals employed in the private sector.
Those numbers paint a bright future for manufacturing, a scenario reinforced by employees who these days contribute brain rather than brawn, working in an environment that’s cleaner than most kitchens.
Still, many people think of the manufacturing workplace in a dimmer light. They see the plants and textile mills of yesteryear, places where repetitive tasks were performed on gritty shop floors, and the emphasis was on speed of motion rather than mental acuity.
Unfortunately, this view of manufacturing is being passed down from one generation to the next. Parents want to know that their sons and daughters will have financially stable careers that afford them the ability to raise their families. They want their children to earn prestige along with strong salaries.
Yet that financial freedom and respect is available in the often-devalued manufacturing sector. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, manufacturing employees in our area earn an average salary of $72,461, much higher than the average of $52,162 for all Greenville County workers.
Much has changed in manufacturing in recent years. The movement toward producing products in China has lost steam as labor costs there have risen. Manufacturing jobs that were once sent elsewhere have returned, but they’re different now – more highly skilled than the positions of the past.
Attitudes about manufacturing need to change, too. At Greenville Technical College, we are coming together with Clemson University, Greenville County Schools and leading manufacturers to help young people and their parents take an entirely new look at manufacturing, and in this way to build the future workforce as we grow the existing one.
Our Center for Manufacturing Innovation (CMI) will offer dual-credit programs in partnership with Greenville County Schools, bridge programs that allow a student to move from an associate degree at Greenville Tech to a bachelor’s degree at Clemson, research for innovation in advanced manufacturing and future technologies related to advanced manufacturing, and workforce training and certificate programs that increase the qualifications of manufacturing employees.
Just as importantly, the CMI will show young people what advanced manufacturing really looks like. In the dual-enrollment programs along with tours, camps and open-house events, they will have the opportunity to work alongside experienced engineers and professionals so that they get their hands on the career and their minds past the stereotypes that exist around manufacturing.
In this space adjacent to Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research Technology Neighborhood #1, we will integrate education from the K-12 level to the community college level to the four-year research university level. We plan a number of curricular innovations that will create the talent area manufacturers so desperately need.
With a Manufacturing Honors College, we will break new ground in attracting highly talented students into the manufacturing field. Thanks to a modularized curriculum, students will work through self-paced modules and short-term blocks, allowing them to make a rapid entry into the workplace. With Career Pathways, we will integrate programs and services in order to develop students’ core academic, technical and employability skills. Through contextualized learning, we will redesign remedial and entry-level courses to focus on manufacturing specific careers and occupations. With certificates of proficiency, we will provide entry-level access to manufacturing employment for those who are not ready or unable to commit to longer-term education and training.
Just as textile mills have faded from their once-dominant position in our state’s economy, attitudes about manufacturing based on outdated information need to be replaced as well. The Center for Manufacturing Innovation is likely to change many minds, and we look forward to breaking old patterns of thought when we break ground in 2014.
