Versalift aerial work platform ascends 225 feet above the ground in 2017 to offer this view of ConExpo’s Gold Lot, which has been replaced for 2020 by the Festival Grounds
Every three years, Sin City turns into a mecca for aficionados of heavy equipment.
The triennial ConExpo-Con/Agg exhibition, taking place March 10-14, will draw at least 125,000 visitors — if past iterations are any guide. Some 2,800 exhibitors have booked booths at the Las Vegas Convention Center, an expansive 2.5 million square foot complex about two miles east of the famed Las Vegas Strip.
Dozens of service truck manufacturers and accessory makers are among those exhibitors. They include such familiar names as Maintainer Corporation of Iowa, Stellar Industries, Summit Truck Equipment, Jomac, Sage Oil Vac, and Taylor Pump & Lift. Accessory makers exhibiting at the massive Las Vegas Convention Center include Boss Industries, Fabco Power, Vanair Manufacturing, VMAC, and Lincoln Electric.
ConExpo also attracts thousands of visitors who come to marvel at the equipment displays, including scores of gleaming service trucks.
“I love to see all the new equipment and all the new innovations,” said Bill McManes, an estimator with Boudreau Pipeline Corporation, during a visit to the Maintainer booth at ConExpo 2017.
His company, based in Corona, Calif., has a pair of service trucks, although he was most interested in checking out excavators, loaders, and electronics. After spending the better part of two days at ConExpo, “we still haven’t seen it all,” said McManes, who was attending his third ConExpo along with Doug Martin, Boudreau’s director of operations.
Hotrod service truck
Among the coolest machines on display at the 2017 show was a former 1973 International Loadstar 1700 dump truck that technicians at Summit Truck Bodies tricked out as service truck hotrod, or restomod. The truck, salvaged from a fence in rural Missouri three weeks before the show, was outfitted with a 707-horsepower 2015 Challenger Hellcat engine, placed on a 2010 Dodge 5500 chassis, and upfitted with a Summit service body and matching crane.
“Although the 73 International restomod was a huge hit, it will not be making another appearance at this show. But don’t worry, we will not disappoint show attendees,” Summit marketing manager Sondra Kirby said by email.
The Summit stand will feature five trucks. “Our engineering, sales and marketing teams have worked to put together some beautiful show trucks that highlight our strengths in design and customization capabilities with service and lube trucks to meet various construction industry needs,” Kirby said.
She added that ConExpo has been a big show for Summit, producing traffic growth and valuable leads. “We expect the same this year.”
Attendance for ConExpo 2017 and the co-located International Fluid Power Exposition was nearly 128,000, according to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, which organizes both shows. That was slightly less than the official count of 129,364 attendees for the 2014 version of the triennial event, which was second only to the 144,600 who attended in 2008, just before the global financial crisis.
The AEM is an international trade organization representing more than 1,000 off-road equipment manufacturers and suppliers, including scores of companies in the service-truck industries. ConExpo is the AEM’s signature event.
This time around, ConExpo happens the week after the Work Truck Show in Indianapolis, thus avoiding a scheduling conflict like what happened in 2014. Many exhibitors have a presence at both shows. Even when there’s no scheduling conflict it can still require a lot of logistical juggling to participate in two big shows back to back but about 1,800 miles apart.
Anticipating excitement
Rachel Lynch, public relations and event specialist with Stellar Industries Inc., said by email that she is “very excited” about attending her second ConExpo. “These industries are always growing and changing and I”m excited to see what”s new,” Lynch said by email. “Stellar is continuously working to bring new ideas and products to the market. We’ve been doing just that in preparation for the 2020 show and I’m excited about what we have to show in March.”
Aside from displaying several trucks at Stellar’s booth, the company’s American Eagle division will bring new products to its booth, such its 40P hybrid reciprocating compressor and a new addition to its line of LubeMat aluminum lube skids.
Lynch was impressed if “a bit overwhelmed” by her first ConExpo in 2017. “Not only is the show large in size but the variety of companies and equipment showcased is amazing,” Lynch said. “It was a perfect way to experience what our key industries are all in one place.”
For Chuck Hamilton, director of marketing and OEM manager for Boss Industries LLC, ConExpo 2017 was “an eye-opener.” It was the first time the company, headquartered in Laporte, Ind., had exhibited at the Las Vegas extravaganza.
“We got to open up some new territories that we haven’t been to before and we had a lot of success with new customers and existing customers,” Hamilton said shortly after the show.
Gold Lot gone
One significant difference for ConExpo 2020 will be the absence of the Gold Lot, where many massive cranes — from such manufacturers as Liebherr, Terex, and Manitowoc — towered over the complex. The former Gold Lot is now the site of a $935 million expansion to the convention center expected to be ready for the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show.
ConExpo 2020’s big iron will instead rise from an area called the Festival Grounds, which are adjacent to the Hilton Grand Vacations Club Hotel, about a mile to the northwest of the former Gold Lot.
Multiple routes will link the Festival Grounds with the convention center. That includes hotel shuttles to both locations as well as shuttles running on a continuous loop between them. Visitors can also take the Las Vegas monorail, which is free for three days as part of the show badge. Other travel options include golf carts and pedicabs.
Tech Experience returns
Returning to ConExpo is the Tech Experience, which will feature a 10-foot by 22-foot smart city replica. The replica will showcase several Tech Experience scenarios, according to recent news release.
They include the following:
• different city grids and how a city responds to heat, wind and storms;
• connectivity in the city, including 5G, sensors, telematics and Internet of Things; and
• The jobsite of the future within the city and how equipment will communicate.
Displays at the 75,000 square foot inaugural Tech Experience in 2017 included an excavator with a 3D-printed boom section.
The 2020 version of ConExpo also includes a variety of Tech Talks and other educational sessions — more than 180 in total. They cover such topics as fleet maintenance, recruitment, telematics, and the future of electric machines. (See related article).
Sprawling spectacle
It all adds up to a sprawling spectacle that can wear out the shoe leather.
In 2017, first-time ConExpo visitor Randy Stokes, a mechanic with Canton, Ohio-based Beaver Excavating, used the word “overwhelming” to describe his impression of the event.
“There’s just so much to see,” said Stokes. “We’re not going to see half of what’s here.”
And yes, some visitors do come specifically to check out the service truck displays.
“My main thing here was coming to look at the service trucks and see what I want next,” said Nick Comaich as he stopped by the Iowa Mold Tooling booth in 2017. At the time, he had a nearly 20-year-old Dominator that he used for maintenance work at a quarry near Santa Rosa, Calif.
Mike Deneen of Chicago also came to ConExpo 2017 with thoughts of upgrading his service truck. “I’m looking forward to coming back in another three years,” Deneen said.
Walt Van Laren, president of Service Trucks International, said at the 2017 show that he was impressed by the quality of visitors who dropped by the company’s booth.
“They’re all buyers, they’re all users,” said Van Laren, whose company is headquartered in Sioux Center, Iowa. “So you know you’re talking to people who use the product (and) want to know more about the product. That makes it fun to talk to people that are interested in what you have to sell.”
For more information on ConExpo 2020, visit www.conexpoconagg.com.
— Story and photos by Keith Norbury