Aggregate producers, C&D recyclers and others converged this month at AGG1 Aggregates Academy & Expo, the World of Asphalt Show & Conference and other meetings that were co-located in Houston.
Producers and contractors will meet at a time of great optimism for the construction materials industry, which is coming off perhaps its best year in a decade. The portable plant manufacturers who exhibited at January’s World of Concrete and February’s C&D World were largely positive about the state of the industry.
The manufacturers and dealers who attended the 2018 Pit & Quarry Roundtable & Conference – an annual event PP&E’s sister publication puts on – shared some unique observations about the market, as well.
One portable plant manufacturer, for example, detailed how the parts business is a big part of his company’s total revenue and that the company monitors the number of sales made exceeding $50,000. The analysis serves an indicator of activity in the rebuild market.
According to the manufacturer, the number of sales exceeding $50,000 dropped in 2017.
“To me, that tells us there’s some long-term vision and confidence in the future of our business,” the manufacturer says. “The opportunity for double-digit revenue is pretty strong for the next three to four years.”
Kleemann’s Paul McLaren has a positive outlook on the months ahead, as well. Much of Kleemann’s recent success was had with contractors, but Kleemann is seeing good traction of late among aggregate producers.
“We’re getting more equipment going into the big producers,” McLaren says. “There was a definite uptick in 2017, and we see 2018 being a step above that again. We’re gearing up for a big 2018.”
Because producers and contractors are in a buying state of mind, the availability of new equipment is a potential issue some manufacturers are dealing with. This is potentially a good problem to have, though.
“Supplying the equipment and making sure the availability is there is an important part of it,” says McLaren, a technical sales manager who covers Texas for Kleemann. “When you get out in West Texas and you get in that oilfield business, they want it tomorrow.”
Van der Graaf’s Alexander Kanaris agrees that demand for equipment is at levels the construction materials industry has not seen for some time. Van der Graaf, which makes drum motors, experienced a significant jump in sales from February 2017 to December 2017, according to Kanaris. Much of the jump was due to growth in the aggregate sector.
And the beat goes on, from manufacturers and dealers to producers and contractors. Even significant rainfall in the Southeast and Texas couldn’t suppress construction materials activity too much over the last few months.
“It feels like the market has turned around,” says John Garrison, vice president of sales at Superior Industries. “Things are very bright from a manufacturer’s point of view. There seems to be a lot of demand for equipment.”