Participants:

Participants:

John Vogel, vice president of sales – handheld tools, Chicago Pneumatic Construction Tools, Westfield, Mass.

Kathryn Reissig, marketing services manager, Stone Construction Equipment, Honeoye, N.Y.

Frank Multerer, president, MBW, Slinger, Wis.

Gayle Suiter, sales and marketing administrator, Arrow-Master Inc., East Moline, Ill.

Tom Carroll, president, CS Unitec, Norwalk, Conn.

Anthony Corwin, product manager, Commercial Products, Makita, La Mirada, Calif.

Ben Weise, product manager for trowels and screeds, Multiquip, Carson, Calif.

RER: What are some of the latest trends in concrete equipment in terms of technology, enhancements and features?

Vogel: More and more customers are using rivet busters in concrete applications in place of 60-pound breakers. Because operating a rivet buster is less fatiguing, it generally increases operator productivity in many applications.

Reissig: Equipment to work specialty concrete — colors, aerated, lightweight, etc. For example the Buddy by Stone mortar mixers are designed for optimum blending. The dynamic mixing feature, along with the drum configuration, delivers a more complete blend in a shorter period of time.

Multerer: MBW runs counter to trends as often as not. For example, while the industry has trended to larger, heavier, and evermore enhancement-laden riding trowels, MBW has held to a measured approach that emphasizes matching design, weight, horsepower and enhancements to application requirements. Our hydraulic steer, mechanical transmission 10-foot rider (BK12-160K) weighs approximately 1,500 pounds and produces more than enough torque to break pans loose with a 40-hp Kohler engine. This compares to competitive 10 footers weighing upwards of 2,500 pounds with 50-hp engines and hydraulic rotors. The lighter MBW rider gets on the concrete earlier and widens the floating/finishing window, consumes less fuel, and is generally free of transmission problems stemming from heavier, higher horsepower/torque designs.

Of course, there is risk in running counter to trends. The greatest risk is that users sometimes fail to appreciate such an approach. But users pay the piper in the form of higher acquisition, operating, and maintenance costs when they buy into commercial propaganda promoting heavier, higher horsepower/torque machinery. And speaking of trends, manufacturers get caught up in the oneupmanship of their own making. More horsepower is needed to power fully hydrostatic riding trowels. Heavier frames and transmissions are needed to deal with higher horsepower and torque. Suddenly, you have a 2,500-pound machine the weight of which has more to do with handling higher horsepower and torque and less to do with floating/finishing concrete. MBW has bucked the trend and kept its eye on the target.

Carroll: Things haven’t really changed from last year, people are always looking for lighter weight, faster-working and safer tools — those are the three general headings that are going to remain universal to power tools. You see tools evolve over time. The interesting thing about the business is the evolution of technology. In concrete-working power tools or equipment, drilling and sawing are the two biggest areas.

We have seen with our pneumatic walk-behind concrete saw and our pneumatic concrete hand-held saws an increase in business and part of that is due to the lightweight nature of our 20-inch walk-behind saw. It weighs 107 pounds versus 300-plus pounds for gasoline and diesel saws in that capacity. We’ve seen a lot of small municipalities and small contractors getting that product because one or two men can lift it into the back of a small truck as opposed to using a hoist or a ramp to drive one of these self-propelled models. That’s an area where we’ve seen an increase on the sawing end of it.

Technology has also evolved in diamond saw chains — we’ve had the pneumatic one on the market for about four years. The advantages are obvious — square corners and plunge cutting, a smaller package or system as opposed to a wall saw, which is many hundreds of pounds and then needs to be tracked up on the wall. The chain saw, and we have the pneumatic version, is good for making small openings, mechanical openings and making square cuts, and squaring off corners, which you can’t do with a circular blade.