Longmont's Scythe Robotics, which developed a self-driving, commercial-grade lawnmower, will choose between locations in Colorado, Florida and Texas for a large-scale production plant, the company's founders said.
The Colorado Economic Development Commission voted unanimously on July 27 to offer Scythe Robotics a $372,000 incentive to build a 50,000-square-foot facility in Longmont. However, the company is about two years away from establishing a facility of that size, and it's keeping its options open, said Jack Morrison, a co-founder of Scythe.
"Over the next couple of years, as we scale from dozens of machines this year to over 100 next year, to thousands a year after that, we'll continue to evaluate our options as we set everything up for really large scale production," Morrison told Denver Business Journal on Monday.
Their mower, the Scythe M.52, is a 1,100-pound, all-electric mower that's outfitted with sensors and cameras that allow it to cut in straight lines and respond to the presence of humans, animals and other obstacles. The company has seen interest from landscaping businesses across the country that maintain large properties, such as parks, school campuses and office and housing developments, Morrison said.
Scythe began accepting orders in October 2021, and it has since garnered reservations for 7,000 mowers. It's already filled the number of reservations it can accept for 2022 and most of 2023 and plans to work from 2024 to 2026 to fulfill its backlog.
Morrison said that Scythe is currently building out a small-scale production line in Longmont. It's hiring a manufacturing engineer to set up the factory, as well as positions for its supply chain and assembly line. Scythe so far employs 45 people, about 30 of whom live in Colorado, and the production line will gradually increase those numbers.
"That'll be a sort of a gradual step-up as we scale the production capacity to keep adding more folks and building more robots," Morrison said.
For its larger-scale manufacturing facility, Scythe will decide between expanding in Longmont or opening a new plant in either Austin, Texas, or Miami, Florida. Scythe plans to base its decision on the cost of establishing a production facility in each area, as well as the local labor markets.
"The availability of the talent to build out the operations is really No. 1," Morrison said. "With a machine like ours, we really want a talented labor pool that's engaged and cares about the mission. And then, I think simultaneously, the co-location of engineering resources. So, Austin's got a great tech community, and the Miami, Florida, tech scene is booming."
Scythe already has offices in both Texas and Florida. When the company was still in stealth mode and developing its technology, Morrison and his co-founders were advised to test their prototypes in Florida, where the air is humid and the grass thick. The difficult mowing conditions helped the company hone its product to work in all environments, Morrison said.
Scythe expanded to Texas in 2020 to test the prototype in a different climate. It was also a strategic move, because Texas has large swaths of landscaped area and many potential customers, Morrison said. A few Texas landscapers were Scythe's first customers to receive and use the mowers this year.
Longmont remains Scythe's largest office, and its engineering staff is located there. A benefit to expanding within Colorado would be to keep its engineering and manufacturing teams together, Morrison said.
"We're keeping our options open," he said. "We've got offices in Texas and Florida, but our engineering is here in Colorado, and we'd love to co-locate the manufacturing with the engineering so that those two sides of the company can work really closely."
If Scythe decides to expand its production operations in Longmont, the incentive package approved by the Colorado Economic Development Commission would be combined with an equal amount from the city of Longmont and the Longmont Development Partnership.
According to the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, a larger facility would bring 394 jobs to Longmont. The company would hire engineers, manufacturers, sales and operations professionals at an average salary of $116,881, which is 157% of the average annual wage in Boulder County.
As to whether the incentives will sway Scythe to keep its manufacturing within Colorado, Morrison said the grants could help that decision "make even more sense for us."
