# Orbit Irrigation Products **Type:** venture **Status:** Draft **Confidence:** Medium **Tier:** C **Focus:** residential irrigation, smart watering, sprinklers, drip irrigation, water conservation, B-hyve **Roles:** manufacturing-operations, hardware-engineering, product-design, sales-business-development **Stage:** Subsidiary of Husqvarna Group (Gardena Division) since November 2021; previously owned by Platinum Equity (2019–2021) **Primary Location:** Salt Lake City, UT **Utah Location:** North Salt Lake, UT (manufacturing, assembly, and distribution per 2018 reporting); Salt Lake City, UT (corporate base per Husqvarna filings and Orbit marketing) **Region:** Davis County **Domain:** materials-mfg, energy **Website:** https://www.orbitonline.com **Updated:** 2026-08-11 **Needs-reviewed:** 2026-08-11 **Pull:** *Utah-built sprinklers and smart controllers that scale residential water use — now the North American anchor of Husqvarna's Gardena watering business.* ## Summary Orbit Irrigation Products makes residential and light-commercial irrigation equipment — sprinklers, valves, timers, drip systems, and the **B-hyve** smart-watering line sold through big-box retail, e-commerce, and contractors. Husqvarna Group **acquired 100% of Orbit in November 2021** for an enterprise value of **USD 480m**; Orbit operates within the **Gardena Division** ([year-end report 2021](husqvarna-year-end-report-2021-orbit.md), [acquisition press release](husqvarna-orbit-acquisition-press-2021.md)). The consumer brand site **orbitonline.com** remains live under the Orbit name ([official site](orbit-irrigation-official-website.md)). Husqvarna's filings describe Orbit as based in **Salt Lake City, Utah**, with about **300 employees** and more than **95% of revenue in North America** ([year-end report 2021](husqvarna-year-end-report-2021-orbit.md)). A 2018 *Utah Business* feature places product development, final assembly, and the distribution warehouse in **North Salt Lake** ([Utah Business, 2018](utah-business-orbit-product-lifecycle-2018.md)). Orbit's own B-hyve page says the company has built sprinkler equipment in **Salt Lake City since 1970** and that the **same Utah team** still designs B-hyve after the Husqvarna deal ([B-hyve page](orbit-b-hyve-product-page.md)). **Bountiful** is **not named in any captured source here** and may reflect an unverified mailing address or older listing. ## Impact Residential outdoor watering is one of the largest discretionary water uses in the arid West. Orbit sits in the supply chain that equips those systems — timers, valves, heads, and increasingly app-connected controllers marketed to cut waste. The 2018 *Utah Business* piece quotes Orbit's CMO describing B-hyve's weather-based programs and **30–50%** water-use reduction claims, with Utah and other states offering rebates ([Utah Business, 2018](utah-business-orbit-product-lifecycle-2018.md)). Those savings figures are company-stated in trade press, not independently measured here. Scale matters because the products are commodity-adjacent but volume-heavy. Husqvarna's October 2021 release cited roughly **USD 320m** trailing net sales and **1.4 million** connected B-hyve devices ([acquisition press release](husqvarna-orbit-acquisition-press-2021.md)); the 2021 year-end report records **USD 324m** Orbit net sales for 2021 and **1.5 million** connected devices ([year-end report 2021](husqvarna-year-end-report-2021-orbit.md)). Husqvarna framed the deal as creating a **"global market leader in residential watering"** when combining Orbit's North American business with Gardena in Europe — the buyer's characterization, not an independent market-share study ([acquisition press release](husqvarna-orbit-acquisition-press-2021.md)). **Bet:** that smart controllers and connected timers will matter more for Western water policy than incremental efficiency in industrial cooling — because millions of homeowners each waste a little, and Orbit's installed base is at homeowner scale. The honest counterweight: post-acquisition strategy is set in Stockholm by Husqvarna/Gardena; Utah remains a manufacturing and design node, but ownership and capital allocation are European. Impact on Utah water outcomes is indirect — through products sold nationwide, not through Utah-specific policy. ## Utah Context Orbit is one of the larger durable-goods manufacturers still tied to Davis County — North Salt Lake assembly and distribution documented in 2018, with Husqvarna continuing to describe a Salt Lake City-based U.S. business in 2021 filings. That makes it a concrete link between the wiki's `materials-mfg` cluster and Western water use (`energy` as a secondary domain tag for water-as-resource). The location story is messy: corporate filings and Orbit marketing emphasize Salt Lake City; manufacturing and warehouse work is documented in North Salt Lake; the Bountiful reference remains unresolved. The page records the conflict rather than collapsing it. ## What They Need Now The 2018 article notes tight Utah labor markets for local manufacturing hires ([Utah Business, 2018](utah-business-orbit-product-lifecycle-2018.md)). Current open roles were not captured; Husqvarna's careers portal would be the live board. ## Open Questions - **Bountiful address not verified.** Captured sources name Salt Lake City and North Salt Lake only; a Utah Division of Corporations or current facility record could confirm whether Bountiful remains a mailing or sales address. - **Manufacturing footprint after 2021.** Husqvarna filings confirm ownership and headcount but do not describe which Utah facilities still assemble products post-acquisition. - **"Largest manufacturer" claim unsupported as stated.** Husqvarna calls the combined business a "global market leader in residential watering"; no independent ranking of worldwide residential irrigation manufacturing volume appears in the captured sources. - **B-hyve connected-device count drift.** 1.4 million in the October 2021 press release vs 1.5 million in the year-end report — likely timing, but the wiki does not know which is current. - **No identifier resolved.** Husqvarna Group is publicly traded (OMX: HUSQ); Orbit itself has no `cik`/`utah-entity` recorded here. ## Evidence - [Source: Orbit Irrigation Official Website](orbit-irrigation-official-website.md) · https://greatutah.work/pages/orbit-irrigation-official-website.md · https://www.orbitonline.com/ - [Source: Orbit B-hyve Product Page](orbit-b-hyve-product-page.md) · https://greatutah.work/pages/orbit-b-hyve-product-page.md · https://www.orbitonline.com/pages/what-is-b-hyve - [Source: Husqvarna Group — Orbit Irrigation Acquisition Press Release (2021)](husqvarna-orbit-acquisition-press-2021.md) · https://greatutah.work/pages/husqvarna-orbit-acquisition-press-2021.md · https://www.husqvarnagroup.com/en/press/husqvarna-group-acquire-orbit-irrigation-us-creating-global-market-leader-residential - [Source: Husqvarna Group Year-End Report January–December 2021](husqvarna-year-end-report-2021-orbit.md) · https://greatutah.work/pages/husqvarna-year-end-report-2021-orbit.md · https://www.husqvarnagroup.com/sites/husqvarna/files/pr/202202023277-1.pdf - [Source: Utah Business — Orbit Product Lifecycle (2018)](utah-business-orbit-product-lifecycle-2018.md) · https://greatutah.work/pages/utah-business-orbit-product-lifecycle-2018.md · https://www.utahbusiness.com/archive/2018/06/13/there-and-back-the-lifecycle-of-a-utah-product/ ## Maintainer Notes - Earlier lead material supplied Bountiful as a location, but no captured source establishes it. Preserve the unresolved location conflict without presenting the lead as evidence.