S C T E CHN I CA L CO L L E G E S Y S T EM ’ S
F I R S T 5 0 Y EAR S
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The 1980s
A D E S I G N F O R T E C H N O L O G I C A L C H A N G E
two photos pertaining to the new computer, and move on. De-
spite the potential staff and program cuts, what you remember
is the VAX 780. “Aiken Tech,” you surmise, “is moving into the
computer age.”
But not just Aiken Tech. “Design for the Eighties” would har-
ness these binary sensations and harness them to the tech sys-
tem’s future. The “Center for Innovative Training”—to be built in
the Midlands for $5 million—would introduce new and emerg-
ing technologies to industry, business, and faculty. Mobile labs
equipped with state-of-the-art CNC machinery and the Nume-
ridex Corporation computerized tape preparation system were
part of the plan. Imagine an immense truck crammed with such
high-tech equipment roaming the state. Might it seem threaten-
ing to the state? Evidently.
Now imagine security guards running toward that trou-
ble-making truck parked in front of South Carolina’s seat of gov-
ernment. How could the system’s mobile lab cause a commotion
on State House grounds?
Well, it did. “We had an 18-wheeler,” said Ed Zobel, “that had
CNC machines, where you typed into the computer what you
want this machine to cut out, and the lathe does it. We would
take that truck around the state and show it to existing and new
industries. We parked it on the State House grounds for a couple
of days just to let members come out and see that we were high-
tech. That we knew what we were doing.”
Sounds simple enough, but oh the pitfalls of politics. A mem-
ber of the House caused a ruckus. “Jarvis Klapman, a House
member from Lexington County, came out and said that van was
impeding the security of the State House, that terrorists could
use it,” said Zobel. “He was chairman of the Safety Committee for
the State House and was trying to show his importance. He even
went to the newspaper.”
Robots and transfer trucks were an unlikely tandem, but they
shared one thing: promoting “Design for the Eighties,” and they
worked. Sophisticated tool-and-die machines and manufactur-
ing molds and cutting tools much needed by industry came, and
they would lead to some astounding developments in a state once
known for its exodus of workers. Thanks to “Design for the Eight-
ies” something soft and pliable, something that didn’t need to be
forged and cut, unlike steel, would roll the state into a new era.
More on that later.
THE GENIUS OF THE SYSTEM
If the tech training system had been set up as a tightly con-
trolled agency would something as creative as “Design for the
Eighties” been possible?
Probably not. “The wonderful thing about how this sys-
tem was created,” said Dr. Jim Morris, “was that it was created
without a lot of specificity. The charge was to create a program
of pre- and post-employment training to attract industry, but
no specifics. They (system creators) left it up to the board to
figure out how to do that. The board had enough sense with
the hiring of Wade Martin (first system executive director)
to adopt the community college and technical college model
without any legislative interference or trying to tell the board
how to do things. That was the genius of the charge to create
the system.”
Red tape ties-up many an innovative program, choking the
life out of it before it sees daylight. Excessive rules and formalities
suck the will out of people. “Hemmed in and hampered,” said
Morris, “they don’t have the freedom to find creative solutions
to problems.”
Dr. Barry Russell, system president from 2006 to 2010, is of
the same mind. “The genius of the early fathers who figured all
this out was that they assumed there would be good leaders in
the system who could figure things out and make it work. There
was so much genius in how this was put together. I just can’t
give enough credit to Governor Hollings, Stan Smith, and Wade
Martin.”
