Bauma or Bust

Yet before the event was over, both Bauma and the crew at Compact Equipment would realize that sometimes misfortunes can sharpen the genius, leading problems into opportunities and obstacles into bigger incentives. According to Bauma officials, the 2010 show actually marked a turnaround in the international construction machinery industry, ushering in a hoped-for change in sentiment and foresight. And this was despite the ban on air travel which impacted the first few days of the fair.

“The mood in the industry shows that in Europe the bottom of the cycle is now behind us. Confidence has returned,” said Ralf Wezel, secretary-general of CECE, the Committee for European Construction Equipment, summing up the event. “Of course at the start of the fair the exhibitors felt the lack of many customers from Asia and America, but in the second half of Bauma, this improved considerably. Messe München´s crisis management in the days impacted by volcanic ash was outstanding.”

The volcanic eruption also provided Benjamin Media and Compact Equipment with a considerable opportunity. Because I had done a little vacationing before the event (exploring Italy and Austria), I was able to take a train to cover the show (with the help of editors Jason Morgan and Pam Stask and event planner Michelle Hill). Thus I was the only American journalist working the show floor. For five days, CE was blogging about the biggest press event in the world, taking photos on the show floor and posting everything at https://www.ceunbound.com/, in an exclusive environment. Bauma was a great success for the launch of our blog – The Machine Works – showcasing how these real time events can be tracked, explored and classified in a real-time format (with those themes expanding in our monthly print edition as you’ll see in June).   

Although the ban on air travel in the end prevented around 50 exhibitors from coming to the fair, the mood at the venue among the approximately 3,150 registered exhibitors from 53 countries was good by the close of the fair. Already by the mid-way point of the fair a number of exhibitors were reporting more sales than they had expected (Bauma truly is a giant selling show).

“The good old times are coming back. The figures for sales taken at the fair far exceed our expectations,” confirmed Michael Heidemann, managing director of Zeppelin and CEO of Zeppelin Baumaschinen GmbH, Germany (representing the local Caterpillar dealer). “We reckon we will be able to match the volume we took at the record Bauma in 2007. This is a clear signal that at Zeppelin-Cat, too, business is moving forward again after the difficult year of 2009.”

Nevertheless, the general economic situation ahead of Bauma and the unexpected ban on air travel did impact the final figures for visitor numbers: Over 415,000 visitors from more than 200 countries attended. In comparison to Bauma 2007, this was 17 percent fewer. Luckily, this American editor did get the opportunity to attend this amazing event and in our June issue of CE we will feature exclusive content on what we heard and saw. And like Bauma, we saw change on the horizon of the construction industry with the market’s fractures begining to cure, which means a lot of hope to make the industry stand even stronger than before.

I think you’ll see this and more at the 30th Bauma International Trade Fair planned in three years time, from 15 to 21 April 2013 in Munich. — Keith Gribbins, Managing Editor, Compact Equipment.