By Jenny Munro
Business Writer
jmunro@greenvillenews.com

Greenville-based Automation Engineering Corp. announced Thursday a $100,000 donation to the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research -- the first donation to be dedicated for Endowed Graduate Fellowships.

"We're the pioneers in this," said Gary Foster, president of Automation Engineering.

The fellowship will support graduate students working toward degrees at the Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Graduate Engineering Center.

The $100,000 from Automation Engineering will be matched by the state under legislation establishing the Research Centers of Economic Excellence, generating a total of $200,000 in endowment funds.

"It's very difficult for these students," said Tom Kurfess, BMW Endowed Chair of Manufacturing and director of the Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Graduate Engineering Center. "They could go out and get a wonderful job. It's difficult to give that up" for more schooling.

The endowed fellowships "allow us to help support a number of these students. It also allows us to recruit students," paying them a stipend, he said.

CU-ICAR has received more than $200 million in donations, but Automation Engineering's is the first solely dedicated to benefiting students working on a two-year master of science graduate degree.

"Our goal is to be the premier automotive and motor sports research and educational facilities in the world," Kurfess said. "Without support from local companies, such as AEC, that vision would not be possible. I'm excited because a smaller local company is saying, 'I'm excited about this.'"

Foster said of the AEC contribution, "It's a nice thing to do. But it's more. ICAR is going to be one of the things that define this community in the next 10 to 20 years. Nobody was funding any of the fellowships for the graduate students. For us, it was a pretty bold statement."

Automation Engineering, which specializes in the development of automation machines and control systems for manufacturers, was founded in 1981 in Gaffney and later moved to Greer.

"We design and build machines that assemble things, transport them somewhere else. Sometimes it's a robot. It might be a camera," Foster said.

His customers have included BMW Manufacturing Co., Michelin North America and suppliers as well as the plastics and metals industry, he said.

The 70-person company, which expanded its facility in January, currently is hiring. Foster said he's looking for a machine design and an electrical engineer. In the next year or so, he expects to add 20 engineers and engineer support staff as well as 10 or so assemblers.

For the past two years, AEC has generated about $8 million in revenues annually. This year, officials anticipate $9 million in revenues, and they're shooting for $10 million next year.

AEC will benefit directly from the contribution because of more access to academia, Foster said. At most research universities, including Clemson, researchers tend to think of the end user rather than smaller companies that may supply them, he said.

Foster said that he hopes other small businesses will consider AEC a model when it comes to ICAR involvement.

He said he expects CU-ICAR, a 250-acre research campus in Greenville, to have a major impact on the region. The goal is for public and private partners to work with the university to develop the technologies, processes and workforce of the future.

"I think it will be a broad-brush affect," he said. "They will need a lot of support, very skilled support out there. I think it will produce a lot of good-paying jobs."

He added that automation in general does not tend to reduce jobs. While it eliminates low-skilled jobs, it creates a demand for higher-skilled, higher-paying jobs.

He predicts over the next 20 years or so, ICAR will be an economic driver for the Upstate much as the Research Triangle is for the Raleigh-Durham area.

When the first phase of campus development -- Technology Village I -- is completed in the summer of 2007, officials estimate that more than 500 jobs will have been created.