HGTC approves $5.8 million budget for advanced manufacturing center in Horry County, begins developing plans for another facility in Georgetown County

Horry Georgetown Technical College is drawing up plans for new advanced manufacturing centers in Conway and Georgetown.

College officials approved a $5.8 million budget for the Conway facility this week. The 30,000-square-foot building will be constructed on a 3.5-acre tract in The Atlantic Center near the WPDE television studio, said HGTC President Neyle Wilson. The college has already lined up funding for the Conway center, which is projected to be finished by the fall of 2016.

Four programs will be housed in the facility: advanced welding technologies, machine tool, robotics and mechatronics. The school already added the advanced welding and machine tool programs this fall. The others will come on line once the new building is finished.

“I just don’t have enough space to accommodate the students,” Wilson said. “Those are basic training programs you’ve got to have in order to be able to tell potential manufacturing companies coming here and looking to relocate that we can provide them with the skilled employees they want.”