NEW PRODUCTS
t’ s like a dream come true,” said Yin Chen, CEO and chairman of Greenworks.“ We took 10 years in the commercial side to get where we are. Finally, we are here.” Chen and his Greenworks team hosted industry media for a day of product reveals and discussions at the company’ s testing grounds near its manufacturing facility in Morristown, Tenn. The site is an abandoned golf course that Greenworks is converting into a full-time test site and proving grounds. Our visit followed an internal sales meeting they held earlier in the week.
“ The last four days, the people sitting in your seats are people who used to work for Stihl, for Husqvarna, Echo, Toro, you name it. Every major brand. These are hard people to crack. And after the last four days, the energy level is so high. We were able to convince our 50 tough sales guys and now we feel confident to present to you this Optimus program,” said Chen.
“ So starting from today, we’ re going to tell the world. Landscapers can be converted to battery,” he said.
Optimus Program
Chen called Optimus Crew“ the first comprehensive end-to-end solution, total solution” for landscape professionals.“ To convince them, to move that person from gas to battery, you cannot be one product, you cannot be one category. You have to be the whole solution. Otherwise, it’ s a fragmented approach, it doesn’ t work,” he said.
For Chen, the importance of the green initiative cannot be overstated.“ We never touch gas,” he said.“ From the very beginning, Greenworks has represented green initiative. We don’ t want to be associated with gas.”
He shared a story of a landscape professional in Long Beach, Calif., whose employer switched to Greenworks Commercial equipment. And that pro cutter, Jorge, told Chen a story about his years of use with gas-powered equipment. At the end of the workday, his wife would make him change clothes in the garage because she didn’ t want the gasoline smell in the house.
“ This organization’ s purpose is to give Jorge the system so he never needs to do that again,” said Chen.“ One year ago, we did not talk about
10 OPE + September 2025 www. OPE-Plus. com