CONEXPO-CON/AGG & IFPE 2011 Are a Resounding Success, Big Skid Steer Lines Launched

It was definitely the busiest North American trade show that we’ve seen in about three years. The mood was overwhelmingly positive at the CONEXPO-CON/AGG and IFPE 2011 expositions held March 22-26 in Las Vegas last week. Despite continued uncertainty in U.S. construction markets and the overall economy, industry professionals expressed hopeful optimism for a sustained U.S. upturn in the coming months, while global sales continue to be strong.

“The construction industry has been through some very tough times, with record unemployment, since the last CONEXPO-CON/AGG and IFPE in March 2008. With these positive numbers and the industry support of the shows, we’re optimistic about the future and looking forward to seeing these new sales orders fulfilled,” stated Megan Tanel, AEM vice president of exhibitions and events.

CONEXPO-CON/AGG and IFPE 2011 attracted nearly 120,000 registered attendees; the shows were the global industry gathering place for the year and the largest gathering in North America since 2008 for the construction, construction materials and fluid power/power transmission/motion control industries. The big news at the show for our audience was the number of manufacturers revamping their skid steer lines – Volvo, Terex, New Holland and JCB for starters 

“The skid steer business in general is driven by residential construction, and residential construction has been unpredictable, disappointing and down since 2006,” said Ron DeFeo, chairman and CEO of Terex at the company’s corporate press conference. “But we also know the U.S. has a growing population, a big immigration population and we’re going to need housing in this country again sometime soon. I can’t predict when that turn is going to happen, but now and between 2013 we will see a meaningful change. That will drive the skid steer market. It’s best to get in the market at the bottom and then grow up.”

But it wasn’t just skid steers. Altogether on the show floor there were more than 2,400 exhibitors taking more than 2.34 million net square feet of exhibit space. IFPE was the largest ever, and CONEXPO-CON/AGG’s exhibit space was the second largest in the show’s history. International registrations accounted for a record 24 percent of the total, representing more than 150 countries. The shows hosted 42 official international customer delegations from 37 countries, organized by the U.S. Department of Commerce as well as in-country associations and related groups.

Industry-focused education was an important component of the show experience, and there were a record number of education, training and certification programs offered in 126 sessions across nine tracks, with sessions emphasizing industry issues and trends, management and applied technology and numerous industry training and certification programs were also held. The show also welcomed visits from U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood as well as U.S. Department of Commerce Assistant Secretary Suresh Kumar and numerous other government officials.

Overall, this show was an enormous success for the industry and Compact Equipment magazine. Feel free to scroll through The Machine Works blogs below for specific product launches. We’ll be creating a CONEXPO Cometh blog that encompasses our entire blog efforts very soon.