For Ogeechee Technical College President Lori Durden, the Georgia Industrial Systems and Industrial Robotics Training Center will not be just another addition to the college’s campus when it opens in 2026.
“Today, we celebrate more than just a new building,” she said Thursday at the facility’s groundbreaking at the corner of A.J. Riggs Road and Highway 301 South. “Today, we celebrate a gateway to advancement for individuals and a catalyst for growth for our community. This center will play a crucial role in preparing a skilled workforce that can compete and excel in today's advanced industries. (It will) become a hub for career development in this region and across our state.”
About 200 people joined Durden at Thursday’s event, including Technical College System of Georgia Commissioner Greg Dozier, Speaker of the Georgia House Jon Burns, State Sen. Billy Hickman and Rep. Lehman Franklin.
While OTC began offering training in industrial robotics in 2019, Durden said it was Bulloch County Manager Tom Couch and Jan Moore, the college’s vice president for Economic Development, who first outlined a vision of a full-scale robotics training center at Ogeechee Tech.
From there, the idea gained both local and state support, ultimately resulting in Gov. Brian Kemp approving $23 million Commissioner Dozier included as part of the system’s 2023 budget to build the 37,000-square-foot Robotics Training Center in Bulloch County. The Center will provide training to employees of manufacturers within the region, as well as companies that use automation in their supply and warehousing facilities.
“This training center will house cutting-edge technology, sophisticated programs that will equip individuals with the skills and talents that the workforce needs today and for the future,” said Bobby Jones, chairman of the Ogeechee Tech Board of Directors. “It will create economic growth and workforce readiness that will help drive opportunity and advancement for our community now and well into the future.”
In fiscal year 2023, Ogeechee Tech delivered more than 240,000 hours of industrial systems and robotics training, Durden said. She said that once open, the Robotics Center would more than double its training capacity and significantly expand the depth of training available.
“It represents not only a strategic investment in our region, but also a commitment to meeting the needs of our growing economy,” Durden said. “Within a year of opening, the Georgia Southern University Center for Business Analytics and Economic Research has projected that this center will yield an economic output of just over $9 million annually, growing to over $15 million within just a few short years.”
Hyundai Metaplant
Most of the demand now and in the future for robotics training stems from when Hyundai broke ground on the 2,541-acre Bryan County Metaplant in October 2022 to manufacture electric vehicles. Currently under construction just south of I-16 East near Blitchton, the Metaplant just rolled off the line it first production vehicle. The complex is projected to employ, eventually, 8,500 people on-site.
“The vision for the Georgia Industrial Systems and Robotics training facility was inspired by the sheer amount of demand for training in this region in the area of industrial systems and robotics and the need to equip the region's workforce with the skills and expertise necessary to maximize the opportunities that now surround us,” Durden said.
More than a dozen manufacturing plants being built in southeast Georgia are directly related to the Metaplant, including three in Bulloch County.
Ajin USA, a supplier of metal auto body parts to Hyundai, opened their $317 million plant in July in the Bruce Yawn Commerce Park next to I-16.
Two other suppliers to the Metaplant also are building plants in Bulloch County. Hanon Systems is a maker of "automotive thermal and energy management" equipment, which includes air-conditioning components, and Ecoplastic America Corporation, which will manufacture injection-molded plastic automotive body parts for Hyundai Motor Group vehicles.
Those factories are expected to come online soon, too.
Regional impact
As a training facility with a regional impact, the Center has created a partnership between Ogeechee Tech and Southeastern Technical College in Vidalia.
The Center will house 12 industrial labs, classrooms, computer labs and meeting spaces that will be designed to host innovative, sophisticated, state-of-the-art programs focusing on preparing trainees for the demands of the workforce at present and in the future.
“The Georgia Industrial Systems and Robotics Training Center will serve nine counties and will ensure that all manufacturers in the region have access to state -of-the-art training required in today's highly automated and competitive market,” Hickman said. “The transformational nature of this facility for this region and its citizens cannot be overstated. It will inspire young students. It will generate higher paying skilled jobs and it will attract the manufacturers of the future to locate here because they will be assured that their workforce needs will be met after they open the doors.”
