World of Concrete 2014 Sees Smaller Crowds But Cautious Optimism
A cheer went up from the crowd at the SPEC MIX Bricklayer 500 competition as Jerry Goodman won both first place and top craftsman honors, laying 644 bricks in 60 minutes. The competition was a bright spot at World of Concrete 2014, held at the Las Vegas Convention Center from Jan. 21-24. Otherwise, the mood at the annual trade show was subdued as teeming crowds filed past demolition hammers, concrete pumps and the latest safety gear.
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Overall attendance was at roughly 48,000, down approximately 7,000 from last year. Total exhibitor space at World of Concrete 2014 also was reduced this year. The trade show was somewhat overshadowed by the impending triennial CONEXPO/CON-AGG trade show, to be held at the same location on March 4-8. For some equipment makers, the marketing pressure of two trade shows has them putting off their big announcements for CONEXPO.
While the crowds were not quite as large as last year, there was a ray of sunshine in the Portland Cement Association's annual economic forecast. "We're expecting cement to grow 8% this year," said Edward Sullivan, chief economist for the PCA. "That's largely driven by gains in residential but also being supported by gains in non-residential and, to a lesser extent, even in public."
Pent-up demand is going to drive year-over-year increases in construction for the foreseeable future, according to Sullivan. "Any time you get positive [trends] in residential, non-residential and public, you typically get extremely strong cement construction growth," he said, adding that the PCA expects to see, by the end of 2014, U.S. cement manufacturers operating at utilization rates of over 90% utilization.
Sullivan expects some of the regions hardest hit by the housing crisis, including the Southeast and the Southwest, to be the new hot spots as pent-up demand is met. In particular, the PCA expects Florida, Georgia and Arizona to have the highest rates of growth in the coming years.
When it comes to the concrete industry as a whole, PCA President and CEO Greg Scott offered one anecdote, saying, "I have heard from our members as business is returning: They are taking trucks out of mothballs that they had sitting there for three or four years and are having trouble finding qualified drivers to drive those trucks. "
While the future may be looking brighter, state and local governments have gotten used to doing more with less in recent years. Today, many municipalities are still in "patch-and-repair" mode. “We’re seeing an uptick in concrete road overlays,” said American Concrete Paving Association (ACPA) spokesman Bill Davenport. “Cash-strapped municipalities have pulled back on capital infrastructure spending, resulting in more preservation work.”
Many exhibitors aimed their products at the cash-conscious convention-goer. Quikrete is targeting budget-conscious municipalities with neglected municipal road repairs with its DOT-preferred, rapidly hardening, fiber-reinforced pre-blended material for 1.5-in. to 24-in.-thick applications that can exceed 3,000 psi within 90 minutes. Further, Leica Geosystems is now offering an "economical" line of laser scanners in its Rugby 600 Series: Rather than a full-featured site-layout laser that would costs thousands of dollars, Leica is going after customers who need only basic features and might be drawn to the $695 price tag on the cheapest model.
Tech Firms Pitch Money-Saving Features
Construction technology companies also sought to highlight the cost-saving advantages of their products. Topcon Positioning Systems introduced machine grade controls with an eye on saving operators money. The i-33 3D-indicate grade system brings GNSS-enabled grade control to dozers, scrapers and other large earthmoving equipment. At a cost of $25,000 to set up one machine, Topcon sees this as a lower-cost alternative to other earthmover grade controls. The company also announced SiteLink 3D, its new cloud-based, subscription service for remotely managing machine controls. The service is accessed through an online portal, allowing users to view real-time data on machine-control performance.
Trimble also touted the potential for saving money through new software. The company has added a materials-tracking feature to its Prolog project-management software package. Able to catalog bar codes, QR codes and RFID tags, Prolog's tracking is able to follow construction materials around a site based on regular scans from tablets and smart devices. Rather than using GPS tracking units, Trimble is pushing Prolog's feature as a cheaper option for tracking on the jobsite materials such as prefabricated modules.
Even though there are signs of construction growth in the coming years, industry equipment makers and software companies are banking that customers will continue to do more with less even as their fortunes improve. Strolling through the aisles of World of Concrete, contractors saw tools from Hilti, Makita, Bosch and Metabo that advertised cordless mobility, with more power, less downtime and improved durability. Tools that last longer and collaboration software that can reduce jobsite and office headcounts were among the loudest pitches. And for owners and municipalities, patch-and-repair is the current reality. "We have a constrained funding environment that has led to a preservation mode," said ACPA President Gerald Voight. Even though the Associated General Contractors forecasts a 8% to 10% rise in construction spending this year, equipment and software makers don't expect customers to give up the cost-saving skills they acquired during the recession any time soon.
