MORRISTOWN, Tenn. — A company that builds battery-operated, zero-emission outdoor power equipment is expanding its Commercial Center of Excellence for Manufacturing and Engineering in Morristown on Friday.
Greenworks said the facility's expansion cost around $25 million. In a release, the company said it will focus on manufacturing commercial and residential battery ride-on lawnmowers. They said they expect the facility will help 150 people start high-tech careers by the end of 2023.
Then, by the end of 2025, they said the company expects to offer 400 more positions. The first phase of the expansion is expected to produce around 30,000 ride-on mowers, gradually increasing to 80,000 by 2025.
It includes two automated, guided vehicles-based assembly lines as well as a fully robotic vehicle chassis welding center, with five robotic welding stations. The release also said the facility has high-precision tube and sheet metal laser cutting technology, with stamping and CNC tube-bending equipment.
The facility is expected to expand in late 2023 and early 2024 with an installation of an e-coating workshop and an injection molding center. The company also plans to install automatic assembly lines for large, commercial-grade battery modules for ride-on mowers and battery packs for commercial, handheld products.
By the end of 2023, the company also said it expects the facility to house the North American Center for Advanced Vehicle Engineering, bringing over a dozen mechanical, electrical and testing engineers to Morristown.
The company said it has ten manufacturing sites across the world, with four research and development centers. The release said it makes more than 20,000 batteries, 30,000 motors and 100,000 PCBAs per day.
By late 2023, the release said the company plans to start making a fully-autonomous, self-driving, commercial, ride-on lawnmower in Morristown as well.
Editor's Note: This story was updated to reflect that the facility expanded and was not newly opened.