STIHL EVENT mercial users. Then he repeats his“ pragmatic not dogmatic” mantra. Having such a large manufacturing facility in the U. S., at Stihl Inc.’ s Virginia Beach location, is a big reason the company can stay resilient, Traub said, through challenges including tariffs.( For more on Stihl and tariffs, see p. 5)

And the world

Stihl maintains manufacturing facilities on several continents. Along with the factories we have seen in both Germany and the U. S., the company makes engine cylinders in Brazil, saw chains in Switzerland, battery products in Austria, and a variety of products in China.

Traub also talked about Stihl’ s relationship with Globe Tools, the corporate name for Greenworks equipment, the Chinese outdoor power equipment company headquartered close to Shanghai.“ Greenworks is a partner of Stihl,” said Traub.“ We hold around 18 % of the shares in Greenworks.” He also said the company is a supplier for Stihl.“ They have diversified with a manufacturing network now into Vietnam, and with that they offer interesting alternatives for us going forward,” he said.“ Yes, we work very closely with them.”

Stihl is opening, in the Q4 2025, a factory in Oradea, Romania. Traub said this“ is a key strategic step in our transformation. He said the facility will employ around 700 people“ and will help us grow our footprint for the battery business in Europe. We want to be even closer to the customers and help the adoption of batteries in the east.”

While adding a factory and people in Romania, Stihl announced labor cuts too.“ In the euphoria of COVID, we employed way too many people,” said Traub.“ We’ re now a five and a half billion-euro company. In the euphoria COVID, it was shared that we want to be an 8-billion-euro company. This is not happening. The markets will not allow us to do that, and therefore we have to adapt our reality.” Traub said that 500 person head-count reduction over the next two years is an embodiment of that reality.

Robotic mowers

On the global operations side, Stihl made news recently when it decided to relocate its R & D efforts for its robotic mowing division to China.“ Regarding the robots,” he said,“ if you can’ t beat them, join them.”

Traub called this news“ was very tough for us as a company because this was new to Stihl. But I strongly believed that as I said, if you can’ t beat them, join them. We were way behind the eight ball. We were not even recognized as competitors.”

STIHL WANTS TO automate as much as possible to address the high cost of manufacturing [ in Germany ],” said Gerhard Stubs, manager of battery production and assembly at Stihl’ s world headquarters in Waiblingen, Germany. Part of achieving that mark has led Stihl to begin testing the Matrix Assembly method.“ Many companies still shy away from this complexity today,” said Stubs, and he added that Stihl has learned some hard lessons in the process. Stihl Inc. in Virginia Beach, Va., is not yet testing the matrix method, and CEO Chris Keffer said the U. S. manufacturer currently has no plans to do so.

“ In comparison to traditional production systems, the matrix production system stands out due to high versatility, flexibility and resilience,” described Fraunhofer Institute, a consultant in manufacturing, material flow and logistics based in Germany.“ The matrix production combines the economic advantages of a traditional flow production system with the flexibility of a job-shop production. Therefore, the matrix production is suitable for fluctuating demand and high numbers of variants while being robust when disturbances occur. On the other hand, the increased degrees of freedom lead to an increase in complexity of the overall system.”

Stubs referenced the 100 + year old Henry Ford assembly line system, a mostly straight-line method whose entirety is disrupted if one station breaks down. Instead of a traditional assembly line where one conveyance transports component assemblies in a strict order, in the matrix system, robotic carriers move component parts independently from station to station to maximize efficiency. Assembly order is not linear, and if one station is slowed, parts can move to another when possible.

Matrix assembly, according to Stubs, allows for short setup times, and can accommodate two different products at the same time.“ This represents the transformation Stihl is undergoing,” said Stubs. Stihl has been testing its matrix assembly for about two months at its headquarters in Waiblingen. www. OPE-Plus. com

October 2025 OPE + 19