Husqvarna Group celebrated a landmark occasion for British manufacturing last Friday (April 22nd 2017) as it marked the production of its 1 millionth robotic lawnmower at its UK headquarters in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham - a first for the industry.
From L-R: - Phil Wilson MP (Sedgefield), Anne-Marie Gardener (HR director), Glen Instone (Husqvarna Division vice president global sales)
The company said the day, which proved a milestone moment for themselves, was a testament to Husqvarna Group’s devotion to innovation in lawn mowing, and to the 130,000 sqm Newton Aycliffe site which has been a manufacturing force for robotic mowing since 2006.
In 1995, the Group created the robotic mower market by introducing the Solar Mower, the world’s first-ever robotic mower. Today the Husqvarna Group offers a range of robotic mowers in the Husqvarna, Gardena, McCulloch and Flymo brands.
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.”
Production of robotic mowers has been ongoing for 22 years and in 2006 its 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.
It takes, on average, input from 72 staff to produce each robotic mower and the factory currently employs 1,154 people to produce machines which are exported worldwide. The main market for robotic mowers is still Western Europe but is growing globally by at least 20 percent each year.
