Greenville Technical College broke ground on the new Center for Welding and Automation Excellence April 28.
The new facility will be built on the college’s Brashier Campus in Simpsonville to address the ongoing workforce shortage of welding technicians. According to the American Welding Society, 320,500 new welding professionals will be needed by 2029.
Keith Miller, president of Greenville Technical College, said the new facility will help the college meet the local workforce needs. The Center for Welding and Automation Excellence is scheduled to welcome students for the fall semester in 2026.
Greenville Tech received a $15 million commitment from the South Carolina General Assembly to build the new facility. In addition, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) secured a federal investment to purchase state-of-the-art equipment for the center.
“That $2.9 million is going to train people with a skill set that is (in) great demand, making the Upstate of South Carolina more attractive to business,” Graham said. “We have so many manufacturing companies around us who need this skill set.”
Construction of the 44,000-square-foot facility will increase the college’s capacity from four robotic welding stations to 16 and the total number of welding stations from 90 to 140. Casey Ross, a welding instructor at Greenville Technical College, said the new facility will also bring the welding program under one roof to enhance collaboration, consistency and student success.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held for Greenville Technical College’s new Center for Welding and Automation Excellence on April 28. The facility will be constructed on the college’s Brashier Campus in Simpsonville. Photos by Megan Fitzgerald and GVLTodayClassrooms and labs for artificial intelligence, robotics, MIG, laser and pipe welding will be on the building’s ground floor, along with a non-destructive testing lab and a high-tech fabrication facility. The building’s second floor will house breakout rooms and dedicated study spaces, along with an overhead viewing area of the facility’s labs.
In addition to training new skilled workers, Greenville Technical College’s Corporate and Continuing Education division will also work with existing employers in the area to retrain people currently in the welding profession at the new facility.
Renderings: Center for Welding and Automation Excellence
“It’s not just important that we increase the number of technicians in the welding profession, but it’s important that we upgrade the skills of those already in the profession,” Miller said. “This facility and the equipment in it will help us do that.”
Ray Lattimore, chair of the Greenville Technical College Area Commission, explained the new facility will be the latest in the college’s long line of workforce solutions, programs and facilities that train new talent.
Greenville Technical College previously opened the Gene Hass Center for Manufacturing Innovation in 2016 to produce skilled manufacturing professionals. The college recently opened the Prisma Health Center for Health & Life Sciences in 2024 to train the next generation of health care workers.
“This is a very special celebration as we look forward to creating a facility that will build the welding workforce,” Lattimore said.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held for Greenville Technical College’s new Center for Welding and Automation Excellence on April 28. The facility will be constructed on the college’s Brashier Campus in Simpsonville.Welding workforce shortage
There are 400,000 welding job openings nationwide currently. Only one new welder enters the workforce for every four who retire or leave the field.
Source: Greenville Technical College
