B

Greenworks Commercial held its ribbon cutting ceremony Friday morning to officiate the beginning of a promising partnership between the corporation and the Lakeway Area.

The $20 million investment will include an 181,000 square foot manufacturing facility, a 20,000 square foot customer experience center located on 30 acres of green space and will create hundreds of new jobs for the area.

Since 2002, Greenworks has been the industry leader in battery innovation, setting the standard for the cordless-powered world.

Its lineup of residential and commercial-grade mowers, blowers, power tools and more have been built from the ground up and have a integrating battery-first design.

Greenworks manufactures over 20,000 batteries made per day on 20 production lines, more than 30,000 motors made per day on 50 production lines and has over 1000 patents and counting.

Greenworks aims to be an innovated and driven brand for people who love gardening and who want greener and cleaner solutions.

Many local leaders, elected officials and Greenworks’ executives were present to celebrate the new manufacturing plant.

Morristown City Mayor Gary Chesney credited Harry Roy’s ‘‘There’s A New Day Comin’” as what he see with the new Greenworks facility.

“Battery powered lawn equipment which means clean energy. No emissions, no gas, very low sound and the ultimate autonomous robotic equipment; the first of its kind made in Morristown. ‘There’s a new day comin,’” Chesney said.

Hamblen County Mayor Bill Brittain expressed his confidence that Greenworks will find exceptional workers in the area.

“I think the company will be very happy with our work force and the job we do in developing our workforce and the many training opportunities we will have at Walters State Community College and TCAT Morristown.”

Chairman of the City of Morristown Industrial Development Board R. Jack Fishman praised the company on ensuring the facility was state of the art.

“The efforts the company has made to make this one of the finest plants in America is absolutely unbelievable and I want to thank them for that.”

Greenworks CEO and Chairman Yin Chen thanked the area for its kindness and willingness to work with the company.

“We were really impressed at how we were welcomed and how much comfort we have found in this community. I really appreciate all of the support that we have received from Morristown and the area.’

Chen described the inspiration for a new manufacturing facility and how it came to be.

“Although we have full distribution and engineering facilities in North America, we didn’t have a manufacturing facility,” Chen said. “My wife told me we need an operation in USA and in that moment it started the search for a new site and year and half ago we found this site.”

“We said we should make that move and be determined to call Morristown our home and that’s what we have been working on for the past year and half.”

Chen expressed the goals for the new manufacturing facility.

“We are new to the community and we are learning together and our goal is to produce the best electric mower in the market,” Chen said. “We have some of the best products and being able to produce the best products here in Morristown is dream come true.

Following the ceremony, guests were provided tours of the 181,000 square foot manufacturing facility.

Displayed throughout the building were several products designed by Greenworks allowing guests to see firsthand what the company will be manufacturing.

For full coverage see Sunday’s edition of the Citizen Tribune