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The product specialists said it. The engineers said it. The equipment testers said it. The salespeople said it. But perhaps Peter Burton, Stihl's vice president for North America, summed it up best when discussing the company's focus: "Emissions are the single biggest challenge facing this industry in the United States."
Spending two days with Stihl representatives and touring its expansive (and expanding) manufacturing facility in Virginia Beach, Va., highlighted the company's determination regarding this issue. They all talk about complying with emissions regulations, and for good reason. "The question is who will survive because it's quite likely that a number of manufacturers building hand-held equipment today could go out of business," Burton predicted, comparing the effects of the increasingly stringent emissions regulations to the laws that drove some automotive manufacturers out of business in the 1970s and 1980s.
Stihl doesn't plan to fall victim, however, and its new 4-Mix technology reportedly puts it ahead of the curve by beating federal requirements that don't go into effect until 2005. "And the 4-Mix technology has the potential for more emissions reductions," enthused Thomas Elsner, one of the company's chief product engineers.
Elsner described 4-Mix as the "best of both worlds," thanks to its combination of popular two-cycle technology along with innovative new four-cycle concepts. And he expects landscape contractors to be the key beneficiaries of this engine as they use it to power their Stihl string trimmers, edgers, hedge trimmers and other hand-held equipment. "This engine is 20 percent more efficient than our previous two-cycle engine," Elsner noted. "That means that it has a 47 percent longer run time."
Elsner also pointed to the integrated spark plug terminal, minimized starter force and excellent acceleration as key benefits users will appreciate. And he was quick to point out that the engine doesn't suffer from many of the earlier criticisms of four-stroke technology, such as added weight. "This unit only weighs 11.4 pounds, compared to 11 pounds in our old design," he explained. "And it operates fine when rotated on its side because it uses the same lubrication system as a two-cycle engine with a gas/oil mix instead of incorporating a separate oil chamber."
More horsepower, more displacement and less vibration make the product seem almost too good to be true, but Elsner promises that's not the case. "This is simply new technology without any performance compromises," he affirmed.
Burton explained that such an innovative development doesn't come cheaply, pointing out that the company's three emission testing laboratories each cost more than $1 million to construct. "This is so costly because the two-stroke engine as we know it is a dirty or high-emitting engine," he admitted, adding that some models currently on the market produce three to four times as many emission gases as allowed by the 2005 law.
This means many manufacturers face considerable challenges, and landscape contractors will ultimately share in the cost of these developments. "Contractors will pay a higher price for compliant products," Burton confirmed, "because manufacturers will have to look for a range of options to comply."
The author is Editor/Publisher for Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at bwest@lawnandlandscape.com.