NE: Ribbon-cutting Marks new Global Operations in Beatrice

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Governor Dave Heineman was on hand recently with officials from Worldlawn Power Equipment, Inc., the City of Beatrice, and State of Nebraska to officially kick off operations for the city’s newest corporate citizen and manufacturer of lawn mowing equipment.

“Worldlawn was looking to establish a new facility at a site offering a convenient and strategic central U.S. location,” said Gov. Heineman. “I want to extend my sincere thanks to Worldlawn for bringing this global business investment to Nebraska. We appreciate the commitment they have made to Beatrice and the State of Nebraska. We look forward to a long and productive relationship.”

The company became interested in purchasing the assets of Encore Manufacturing and maintaining the plant location as part of its plans to expand its U.S. operations and residential mower product lines from Industry, Calif., and to further branch out in manufacturing greater numbers of commercial-sized lawn mowers. Until today’s announcement, the California location was the only U.S. facility operated by parent company Jiangsu World Plant-Protecting Machinery Co., Ltd., in Danyang City, Jiangsu Province, China.

Worldlawn also has applied for Nebraska Advantage incentives, indicating that the program was one of several positive reasons the company was interested in locating in the state. The company has hired ten employees, and may initially hire as many as 25-35 total.

“We, in Beatrice, are very pleased and appreciative of Worldlawn’s acquisition of Encore, which demonstrates its vote of confidence in our community and our workers,” said Beatrice Mayor Dennis Schuster. “I would also like to thank Dick Tegtmeier for all of his efforts in Beatrice throughout the years, from his founding of Encore to his work in finding Worldlawn as the buyer of his company.”

The company will restart the Encore brand as well as grow the Worldlawn brands of residential-sized and commercial-sized mowers.

In addition to the California plant, the company maintains offices in Australia and a large distribution network in Europe. Jiangsu World Plant-Protecting Machinery Co., Ltd., employs about 1,000 people, and is part of a larger company, WorldGroup, which employs 7,000 in China. WorldGroup is one of China’s Top 500 companies.