180,000-square-foot manufacturing facility will produce OptimusZ lawn mowers and more
We love seeing companies bring back American manufacturing. Greenworks Commercial just expanded its reach with the opening of a Manufacturing and Engineering Business Center of Excellence in Morristown, Tennessee. The 180,000-square-foot facility is the company's first manufacturing center in North America.
Greenworks Commercial invested more than $25 million in the facility. The initial focus of the program is on the manufacture of zero-turn and ride-on lawn mowers powered by lithium-ion batteries for commercial and home use. In particular, their OptimusZ Commercial electric zero-turn lawn mower will be in production at the facility, along with their ZT family lawn mower.
Production capacity and capacity
Initially, Greenworks Commercial planned to produce 30,000 riding lawn mowers in 2023. In addition to batteries and other products, this number should increase to 80,000 riding lawn mowers by 2025.
So, what does this mean in terms of work? According to Greenworks, the new Morristown manufacturing facility will create more than 150 high-tech jobs by the end of 2023. The expansion plan will increase this number to 550 by the end of 2025.
Two assembly lines equipped with AGVs (Automatic Guided Vehicles)
The Greenworks Morristown manufacturing facility currently includes two AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) assembly lines. One line is dedicated to the OptimusZ, while the other handles their consumer zero turn and lawn tractor products.
Robot chassis welding
The facility includes a fully robotic automotive chassis welding center. Inside are up to 7 fully robotic welding stations, which you can observe through safety glass. Watch out for using Lincoln welders behind those arms!
For the mowing decks, Greenworks Commercial uses five additional robotic welders.
Laser cut, bent and powder coated
In addition to robotic welding, the plant uses high-precision tube and sheet metal laser cutting, stamping and CNC tube bending equipment for major components. They also have an e-coating (powder coating) line that will come online later this year.
Final inspection and color matching
For final inspection, Greenworks has a sophisticated computer and Dyno system to check the motors and gears.
They also have a light tunnel for visual inspection of paint and final assemblies prior to packaging and shipping.
Expansion planned for late 2023 and 2024
Starting later this year and throughout 2024, we can expect to see several exciting developments at the Greenworks Morristown manufacturing facility and factory. First, they plan to build an exterior bumper and track testing facility. With this, we wonder how long it takes to get UTVs into the mix!
Greenworks also anticipates completing and implementing the following:
- Automated assembly lines for large commercial-grade battery modules and small battery packs for commercial handheld and walk-behind products
- Installation of electrophoresis workshop and injection molding center
- Manufacture of commercial walk-behind lawnmowers
- Parts and Service Warehouse
By the end of 2023, Greenworks Commercial hopes the factory will be producing as many as 100 OptimusZ mowers per day. Additionally, they reported to us that they also intend to start manufacturing the Greenworks OptimusAI autonomous lawn mower. This fully autonomous, self-driving commercial zero-turn lawn mower is built on the OptimusZ platform. It features GPS-RTK navigation and moving object avoidance technology, offering hybrid autonomous and manned driving modes. In its autonomous mode, the mower is accurate to an inch!
We even got a sneak peek at the Greenworks OptimusMC mobile power station trailer, but we haven't made a firm commitment to the details of the manufacturing process yet.
Morristown as Center for Technology and Engineering Leadership
The Morristown facility is also home to the North American Center for Advanced Vehicle Engineering. Part of the Greenworks conglomerate, it will employ a dozen mechanical, electrical and test engineers by the end of 2023. The US-based engineering team collaborates with the Greenworks R&D Park and its Autonomous Region in Changzhou, China and the Robotics R&D Center in Jönköping, Sweden.
For more information, visit the Greenworks business website.