Allett Mowers, a division of Staffordshire firm Turfmech Machinery Ltd, is set to become the largest manufacturer of pedestrian petrol-engined cylinder mowers in Britain following its acquisition from Bosch Lawn and Garden Ltd of the drawings, plant and equipment, tooling and intellectual property necessary for the manufacture of the entire range of former Atco and Suffolk Punch petrol and electric lawn mowers.
Included in the acquisition is specialist equipment for the manufacture of helical cutting cylinders, enabling Allett to be self-sufficient for the first time in a key component of cylinder-type mowing machines, which have been produced by Allett since the mid 1960s.
The acquisition does not include the Atco and Suffolk Punch brand names nor the individual mower model names which have been retained by Bosch Lawn and Garden. As a result, all of Bosch’s former Atco and Suffolk Punch pedestrian cylinder mowers will be manufactured and sold in future under the Allett brand name with appropriate new model designations to be given by Allett to each mower in the range prior to their launch ahead of the 2012 grass-cutting season.
Other than that, all of the former Atco and Suffolk Punch petrol and electric pedestrian cylinder mowers to be manufactured from October 2011 onwards at Allett’s production centre in Hixon, Staffordshire, will be to the same design and specification as their forerunners, including the green and gold livery well-known to gardeners the length and breadth of the British Isles. New models, together with improvements and upgrades to existing machines, will be introduced by Allett in due course.
Designed for keen gardeners, semi-professional users and others who appreciate the precision cut and quality of finish produced by a cylinder-type mower, the new Allett-branded machines will take their place alongside Allett’s existing range of professional pedestrian cylinder mowers and turf maintenance equipment, which is used to maintain sports, amenity and ornamental grass throughout Britain and overseas.
Allett plans to sell its new line of domestic and semi-professional cylinder mowers through a network of independent garden machinery dealers, selected for their ability to provide first-class sales and service support to customers.
“The acquisition of the design rights and manufacturing capability for the former Atco and Suffolk Punch pedestrian mowers is a natural extension of the Allett brand,” commented Austin Jarrett, managing director of Allett Mowers’ parent company, Turfmech Machinery.
“Having concentrated for almost 50 years on serving the professional market, Allett is now able to offer high specification cylinder mowers and unrivalled customer support to keen home gardeners and semi-professional users for whom Allett mowers were not previously affordable or viable.”
The installation of the additional manufacturing plant, equipment and tooling at Allett’s Staffordshire factory over the coming weeks will, says Mr Jarrett, considerably extend the company’s production capabilities.
“We will be looking to hire up to 20 new staff, which is good news for our local area and for British manufacturing,” he commented. “Furthermore, using Allett’s existing expertise and presence in overseas markets, we anticipate growing the export business for all of the models within the newly-enlarged Allett family. Particularly, we want to extend the benefits of cylinder mowing to other parts of Europe and further afield, enabling many more people to appreciate the appearance and finish long associated with fine, traditional British lawns.
“For the future, we see opportunities also in markets such as cricket, with the development of a more affordable cylinder mower capable of producing top-class wickets for clubs with limited budgets. It’s going to be an exciting and fascinating time as we introduce the Allett brand to an ever-increasing number of new and important markets.”
Turfmech Machinery www.turfmech.co.uk