SUAMICO – Riding over steep slopes, rough terrain, hazardous landscapes, weeds and tall grass with a lawnmower can be difficult and dangerous.

But a Suamico company is not only bringing a solution, it’s adding jobs and supporting other companies in northeast Wisconsin.

RC Mowers says its machines can make the job easy and safe. The company builds remote-control lawnmowers that can run through every terrain, all day, without a rider. They also are all made in the United States, with headquarters at 2146 E. Deerfield Ave. E.

Michael Brandt, CEO of RC Mowers, is an aerospace engineer who worked for eight years for Lockheed Martin as the director of technical development. He's an expert in interior crash dynamics and worked on a lot of safety certifications and aircraft interior approvals.

"Aircrafts are very, very rigorous on their safety, that was kind of the bridge that brought me to this side," Brandt said. "I've applied a lot of those lessons to our products."

Brandt thought about two major problems to solve with his design. First, separate the operator from the lawnmower — the heavy machine could severely injure or kill someone if it were to run them over. In 2021, 71,293 people in the United States were injured by a lawnmower. Of those, 9,954 needed hospital care; according to a report by the Consumer Product Safety Commission through their National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. The report collects data from 96 hospitals throughout the country and said common injuries resulted from blade lacerations and blunt force impacts.

Second, Brandt wanted to build a machine with the technology to help the operator make decisions, while also climbing steep slopes and hazardous terrains. He designed the machine himself in his garage.

Now, the company has 40 employees, the vast majority of which are from the area, Brandt said​​​​. It also made a strategic decision to partner with other companies in the state, and specifically from northeast Wisconsin, to buy the parts. They assemble the machines at their headquarters in Suamico.

"All of our fabrication is outsourced," he explained. "We specifically decided not to invest in lasers, press breaks, paint boost and welders. We decided that there are enough people and companies around here that are well-qualified to do that."

Only a few elements are outsourced, such as electrical components and the rubber for the wheels. Everything else, "the metal, fuel tank and plastics pieces," he said, are made in the United States.

The company has three models:

• The TK-44E, a compact design that mows up to a 45-degree slope, cuts bush up to a half-inch in diameter, it has a 63-inch operating width and weighs 1,220 pounds.

• The TK-52XP, a medium-sized machine and considered the best-seller, can work on a 50-degree slope and deal with bushes up to 1½ inches in diameter, has a 78-inch operating width and weighs 1,790 pounds.

• And the "most versatile" TK-60XP, which is a little bigger, can also deal with a 50-degree slope and 1½-inch bushes in diameter, has a 86-inch operating width and weighs 1,855 pounds.

All models have a camera that can be viewed on an LCD screen in the remote control. The control is water-resistant, has a 20-hour run time, a 900-megahertz system and a 1,000-foot signal range.

The smaller model costs $37,950, the medium $57,950 and the larger $62,950.

"This is not a hobby machine," Brandt said. "It's meant for commercial, heavy-duty work."

The smaller model can be used for golf course maintenance and roadside mowing.

The size of these machines and the price are some of the reasons why most of RC Mowers clients are large commercial contractors, municipalities and departments of transportation.

The company has sold 400 units through licensed dealerships all over the United States and other countries, including Australia and Canada.

Timothy Cowder, owner of Mighty Mouse Services in North Carolina — a construction company that specializes in vegetation management and is certified through the state for storm-water inspection and maintenance — uses an TX-52XP. He does a lot of brush-cutting, land-cleaning, site preparation, drainage and storm-water retention ponds work.

"Basically, we get to where nobody else can go," he said.

The TX-52XP can be used in most of places he works, and it's also very easy to operate, he explained.

"Everybody knows how to use a joystick, with all those games out there," he said.

If something bad were to happen on a job — perhaps if the grass is too tall to see ahead and the machine falls into a ravine or a hole — "nobody gets hurt," he said.

Besides being easy to handle, there is also an appealing cost element, Cowder said. For projects where he might use larger equipment, like an excavator or a brush cutter, he could also use the remote-control mower — and the latter is a third of the cost.

"The biggest downside with this machine is having to stop and talk to people for an hour and a half," he joked. "Because (the lawnmower) looks to be going on its own, you know, like an UFO or something."

For the past three years, Brandt and his team have worked on adding some level of autonomy for the mowers to assist in certain situations, but at the same time leaving total control to the operator. He also said battery-adjacent technology is coming.

"That's is a reality, no doubt about it," he said. "But what we didn't want to do was to burden our technology with too many new things."

He explained when you introduce too many things at once, you end up introducing too many failure points.

"So, we got really good at the remote control, very good at the autonomy; now we are ready to enter another piece of technology," Brandt said.

Two years ago, RC Mowers was still a startup — but its growth is noticeable, and they have doubled their revenue every year, Brandt said.

The company also recently broke ground on a new $4.8 million office and production facility next to the original headquarters. Brandt said this new building will allow them to expand their operations, have more storage and keep improving their products.

Ariel Perez is a business reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach him at APerez1@gannett.com or view his Twitter profile at @Ariel_Perez85

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: This Suamico-based company builds remote-control mowers