Altec Display 2014
Tom Reilly (left), president and owner of TNT Equipment of Riverton, N.J., and Matt Trefz of Roanake, Virginia, a marketing and sales rep with Altec, talk in front of a service truck that is part of Altec's mobile service fleet and ConExpo 2014 display.
Dozens of service body manufacturers and makers of accessories for service trucks will be among the more than 2,500 exhibitors at North America’s largest trade show of heavy equipment this March.
Service truck industry exhibitors at the triennial ConExpo-Con/Agg, taking place March 6-11 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, include such familiar names as Maintainer Corporation, Stellar Industries, Summit Truck Equipment, Teamco, and Iowa Mold Tooling. Accessory makers exhibiting at the massive Las Vegas Convention Center include Boss Industries, VMAC, and Lincoln Electric.
Magazine among exhibitors
Also with a booth at the show, for the first time, will be Service Truck Magazine.
“ConExpo means comfortable shoes and an overall plan to see service truck focused displays,” said Nick Moss, the magazine’s advertising manager, who walked the last ConExpo in March 2014 in advance of the magazine’s launch later that spring. “However well-planned, using the latest app for efficient routing, I’m guilty of getting distracted to loosely related displays or even booths that have nothing to do with service trucks. There’s simply so much to see.”
Joining Moss at the show will be Service Truck Magazine publisher Tom Henry and editor Keith Norbury, who will be making his third visit to ConExpo.
“Although I have not been to this show before, our advertising and editorial staff have, and they always return with glowing reports about the scope and range of exhibitors,” Henry said. “I look forward to taking it all in and of course meeting with our friends in the service truck and related industries.”
Curtis Turchak
Curtis Turchak and his dad Gerry Turchak, company president, staff the Brutus Truck Bodies stand at ConExpo 2014. The company is based in Penticton, B.C.
The show, co-located with the International Exposition for Power Transmission, features more than 2,500 exhibitors, 2.5 million square feet of exhibition space, and more than 150 educational sessions. At the 2014 event, attendance at ConExpo and IFPE totalled 129,364, reported the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, which produces the show. That was the second highest total ever, surpassed only by the 144,600 attendees in 2008, just before the financial crisis.
Of the 2014 attendees, 24 per cent came from outside the U.S., the AEM reported at the time.
Teamco Inc.
Teamco Inc. displays Feterl service bodies in 2014 at Teamco's ConExpo booth for the first time since acquiring the Feterl brand in 2011.
The best of shows
“Obviously it is the best show we attend,” said Myron Holzwarth, sales manager for Teamco Inc. “There’s no question — of all the shows we go to, that is the king of the shows.”
At ConExpo in 2014, Teamco displayed Feterl service trucks at its booth, the first time the company had done so since acquiring the brand in 2011. For 2017, the company expects to have two or three trucks on the stand, as well as some of the commercial snow-removal equipment that it also makes at its facility in Tea, S.D.
“It’s just a matter of how we’re going to utilize our space that we’ve got available,” Holzwarth said.
“We just encourage everybody to stop by our booth and see what we’ve got to offer and some of the new features that we’ve come out with since the last show,” Holzwarth added. Among those features are the double outriggers on the back of the company’s standard trucks that enable full load capacity of the crane.
Maintainer stand at ConExpo 2014
At the Maintainer stand at ConExpo-Con/Agg 2014,Tasha Halupniuk (left) and Jane Messingham wait for their husbands, Bryce Halupniuk and Dennis Messingham, who both work with Cedar Valley Corp. of Waterloo, Iowa.
Todd Karolczak, marketing manager with Maintainer Corporation of Iowa Inc., said his company is excited about showing a variety of innovations at ConExpo.
“We have some new product launches, we have a lot of things dealing with the weight of our product, maximizing the payload on our trucks, safety features,” said Karolczak, whose company is based in Sheldon, Iowa. “So between new products and new configurations and just updates to our existing products, we’re pretty excited to show those off.”
A lot of traffic expected
The 2014 ConExpo was Karolczak’s first with Maintainer, although the company has been a mainstay at the event for many iterations.
“It’s definitely our biggest show,” Karolczak said. “Lots of activity. We get a lot of traffic to the booth. A lot of international opportunities come up at ConExpo — just people seem real excited to find out what’s out there. It really generates a lot of leads for us, and a lot of business for us.”
This year, Maintainer and other service body makers will be displaying in the Gold lot amid the towering crane booms of such industry giants as Terex and Manitowoc. “It’ll be interesting to see the flow,” Karolczak said. One drawback is that the Gold lot is a distance from the trade show’s new Tech Experience pavilion, which is near the opposite end of the complex.
“It remains to be seen what we’ll get,” Karolczak said. “We’re going to try to come up with some other promotions and incentives to make sure people come by our booth walking the show.”
Stellar Industries Inc., which is headquartered in Garner, Iowa, plans to introduce a new series of mechanic service bodies at ConExpo. However, the company isn’t releasing many details in advance of the show, said Donna Popp-Bruesewitz, Stellar’s communications manager. Stellar will also use interactive video at ConExpo to promote its trademarked CDTplus crane control system.
“We really want our current customers who haven’t upgraded yet, as well as new and potential customers, to have a first hand look and feel as to how the system operates, and how it can improve their efficiencies and productivity,” Popp-Bruesewitz said by email.
Carla Benn Palfinger
Carla Benn, an accounting administrator at the Palfinger North America head office in Niagara Falls, Ont., staffs the company’s stand at ConExpo 2014. She gets up close with a Palfleet Ford F750 equipped with a Palfinger 11011 corner mount crane.
Booths inside and out
Stellar ramped up its ConExpo presence in 2014 with booths inside and outside, a formula it is repeating for 2017.
“We consider it a premier show for the construction market and even markets adjacent to it,” said Stellar marketing manager Sean Moran, citing utility, railroads, and mining as examples of those other markets.
Summit Truck Equipment, meanwhile, will be returning to ConExpo to promote its service trucks, fuel and lube trucks, lube trailers, and a personal manbasket for service trucks, said sales manager Daniel De Aces.
“ConExpo is the single most important show we attend,” De Aces said by email. The company’s goals are to meet new and existing customers, display new and improved products, and “sell trucks,” he added.
Among the accessory makers returning to ConExpo is VMAC, which is based in Nanaimo, B.C.
“We’ve been at ConExpo every year that I’ve been at VMAC, which is 16 years,” said marketing manager Mike Pettigrew. “It’s definitely the biggest show that we do.”
The company is excited to be returning to ConExpo although a little apprehensive about the location of its booth this year. In the past, VMAC, which stands for Vehicle Mounted Air Compressors, has exhibited in the Silver lot, near the entrance to the Central Hall. This time around VMAC will be in the Bronze lot at the south end of the complex.
“This is a new location but we’re right next to Miller (Electric Mfg. Co.) so that should give us some good traffic,” Pettigrew said. “You just never know. You get to some of these shows and our equipment isn’t very big and you just never know what’s going to be beside you.”
At this ConExpo, VMAC plans to return to a tradition of “some good old fashioned demos” of its signature underhood air compressor system, in particular its Underhood 150, which was launched in 2001. “Because we’ve launched so many new products the last couple of years we’ve pulled back on a lot of our marketing efforts on our underhood,” Pettigrew said.
First-time exhibitors excited
Taking part at ConExpo for the first time will be Taylor Pump & Lift Inc., a manufacturer of lube trucks.
“So it is very important to us,” said Jeff Taylor Jr., the company’s vice-president and sales manager.
At the show, the Concord, N.C. company will be promoting its TPL lubemaster products, which include lube skids and lube/fuel trucks. Its goals for the show are simple: “to reach as many people as we can and let them know who we are!” Taylor said by email.
Another first-time exhibitor at ConExpo will be Boss Industries LLC, a La Porte, Ind.-based maker of air compressors and tool lifts.
“So we’ll go in with eyes wide open,” said Chuck Hamilton, director of marketing for OEM sales at Boss.
“We walked it last time and decided that we needed to be part of this,” Hamilton added.
His impression of the 2014 show? “Pretty overwhelming,” he said.
Boss will debut a new product at ConExpo, “which we’re pretty excited about,” Hamilton said. “Unfortunately, I can’t give you any more information than that.”
The company recently added an original equipment manufacturer line for OEM private labelling, including for leading service body makers. “Going into ConExpo we’re looking at new opportunities in the OEM,” Hamilton said. The company is also looking to expand its reach in the west coast marketplace.
“We’re a midwest company, no doubt about it,” Hamilton said. “There’s a lot of business in the midwest, and the east coast. But also we see the opportunities on the west coast as well.”