One Million Robotic Mowers Manufactured in the UK
In April 2017, Husqvarna Group celebrated a landmark for robotic lawn mowing and British manufacturing as a whole producing its one millionth robotic mower at its UK headquarters in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham. The day, which proved a milestone moment for the company, is testament to Husqvarna Group’s devotion to innovation in lawn mowing, the 130,000 sqm Newton Aycliffe site and to the hard-working staff. Production of robotic mowers has been ongoing for 22 years and in 2006 Husqvarna’s Newton Aycliffe factory began the manufacturing of its flagship product. In the height of the season it can see around 3,000 models produced per day.
On average, input from 72 staff is required to produce each robotic mower and the factory currently employs 1,154 people to produce machines which are exported worldwide. These incredible staff were a big part of the celebrations on the day and came out in force to pose for a photo commemorating the milestone that has been seen by more than 25,000 people across social media.
On the day, Husqvarna opened their factory doors and welcomed a number of special guests to see the work that goes into producing a robotic mower. Phil Wilson MP, delegates from St Teresa’s Hospice, Eamonn Leavey from the North East Chamber of Commerce, and members of the press were all in attendance. They were treated to a tour around the factory, a presentation from (Glen Instone VP Finance and CFO Husqvarna Division, Caraline Robinson Manufacturing Director and Paul Coates After Sales Manager), and a Swedish themed lunch, complete with an Automower® shaped celebration cake.
Husqvarna Group also donated a Husqvarna Automower® to their nominated charity St Teresa’s Hospice, which we hope will bring them peaceful gardening for years to come. The event secured numerous pieces of positive coverage for the company including BBC Look North, The Chronicle, The Northern Echo and many more. Kai Wärn, CEO and President for Husqvarna Group said: “Celebrating 1,000,000 environmentally friendly robotic mowers is a milestone for the Group. More than twenty years ago, we created the robotic mower market and have developed the market ever since. We naturally have a strong market leadership within this category while many of our competitors still are fairly new in the market. We see that in many countries the market for robotic mowers remains small, while others have grown substantially - meaning sizeable growth opportunities in this exciting segment remains. Our aim is to maintain our leadership position by providing the most reliable, safe and efficient products and solutions.” Caraline Robinson added about the day; “The event was a huge success, we we’re really happy with how everything went, the rain even managed to stay away for the big photo. We we’re honoured to welcome so many people to Newton Aycliffe to help us celebrate this milestone and we’re delighted by all the positive coverage we received. We continue to be the market leader in robotic lawn mowing and that’s testament to everyone involved with the company. Here’s to the next million and beyond.”
