A busy start to the year has brought us a lot of momentum heading into the summer months. We attended both the ARA Rental Show and CONEXPO-CON/AGG. Both shows were successful.
The ARA Rental Show: Orlando, Florida
The Rental Show has always been a successful show for us. This year, there was some uncertainty about attendance, as CONEXPO-CON/AGG was set to take place a week after The Rental Show. It turned out to be more than fine. In fact, The Rental Show saw increased attendance numbers for the eighth consecutive year.
This year’s show saw 6,000 rental business attendees and 3,000 rental businesses. It was the most rental business attendees since the show’s 50th anniversary in 2006 and the most rental businesses since 2001. All three of those shows — 2001, 2006 and 2017 — were in Orlando, a great location for the show.
At the show, we launched two new products with the TL10V2 vertical lift track loader and the TB216H hybrid excavator. Attendees and the media at the show continually surrounded these two machines.
CONEXPO-CON/AGG: Las Vegas, Nevada
The “Big Show” happens every three years and this year’s version saw a 10 percent boost in overall contractor and producer attendance compared to 2014. In total, 128,000 attended the show.
We had a nice booth presence and a great location at the show. Overall, we experienced a 15 percent increase in booth traffic this year compared to three years ago. In addition, there were more senior level attendees that stopped by looking to find the right equipment for jobs they have coming up.
We also had a lot of media excitement at CONEXPO as Construction Equipment and ForConstructionPros.com interviewed our own Lee Padgett on camera about our TB216H excavator.
The shows proved one thing: the confidence from attendees and manufacturers is high in both the rental and construction segments. Given the increased attendance, the quality of attendee and the activity since the show, we are convinced the next several years will be very active in the U.S. construction equipment markets.
Our customers have no shortage of work and are bidding on many new projects. That is a winning combination.
— Takeuchi-US