A Strong Year for Innovation

Dec. 1, 2014
It has been an interesting year for innovation in machines for the equipment rental industry and you’ll have a chance to read about the items entered into RER’s annual Innovative Product Award over the next few issues.

Now that the economy is a bit more stable and companies appear to be beefing up their research and development budgets, the product pipeline is flowing pretty well. It has been an interesting year for innovation in machines for the equipment rental industry and you’ll have a chance to read about the items entered into RER’s annual Innovative Product Award over the next few issues.

You can read about the top three vote-getters in this issue – Point-of-Rental Systems’ CLOUD, JLG’s dramatic 185-foot 1850SJ and newcomer Triple E Equipment’s Sherpa 100ECO, a battery-powered skid-steer loader. Each of these products captured the imagination of our panel of voters, for different reasons.

A lot of people were impressed with Point-of-Rental’s CLOUD product, which advances the way software systems are presented to their users. It came as no surprise to me that JLG’s 185-foot boomlift would fire up the imagination of voters, just as Genie last year won the award as the first self-propelled aerial work platform to reach 180 feet. In addition to the 1850SJ’s height, its work envelope, its LCD panel, its load-sensing capability and other features were essentially hard to ignore.

Triple E Equipment is a great story, and as one voter pointed out, this product captures the essence of this award, bringing to mind an award-winner a number of years back that had been created by a man in his garage. This wasn’t quite that grassroots, but it came about in response to a specific need, and the battery-powered skid-steer loader, discovered by a demolition contractor on a trip to the Bauma show in Germany and then modified for U.S. use, really got the attention of the panel. The company was formed in 2013 and the Sherpa 100ECO machines were first imported into the U.S. market earlier this year.

There were some fascinating products in the competition. One of the top vote-getters was Perkins Engines and having visited Perkins’ U.K. facility and watched its engineers work with the engineering teams of the OEMs for which it designs Tier 4 engines, it did not surprise me that voters were impressed with its twin turbo 1206F-E70TTA. A company must learn a few things in almost 90 years of engine production.

Other major vote-getters were Atlas Copco for its Dynapac CA1300 compaction roller, which was recognized for its cross-mounted engine, placed perpendicular to the frame, an industry first. Also, Wacker Neuson got strong support for its one-ton excavator that can run off diesel or electric power, as environmental considerations continue to grow in importance. The 803 Dual Power mini-excavator runs off a standard diesel engine or can be connected to an electro-hydraulic pump, allowing the machine to operate emission-free, a good solution for interior excavating and demolition.

The power generation field was particularly strong this year. HiPower Systems’ HRNG natural gas generators can run on wellhead gas that oil and gas companies typically flare to the detriment of the environment. These units enable oil and gas companies to recover this energy rather than waste it, turning it into clean energy they can use. Kohler launched a line of mobile gaseous generators designed for powering large equipment in remote locations. Magnum’s gaseous generators can run on direct line well gas, natural gas or liquid propane, saving an oil-and-gas site hundreds of thousands of dollars in diesel costs. Cummins’ Tier 4 final 200 kW generator is a mobile unit in the 150-275 kW power node that doesn’t require a DPF.

Another dark horse in the balloting was United Rentals’ United Academy, which came close to cracking the top three and deserves some mention. It’s not a “product” in the strict sense of the word; it’s not a machine that you can rent. But a lot of voters commented on the value and importance of education and training in the rental industry and gave strong kudos for United’s groundbreaking work in this area. The academy includes operator training, jobsite safety training, confined space, trench and excavation training, OSHA and train-the-trainer courses (in three languages). It features online, classroom and hands-on training, testing and certification and a lot more.

You’ll have a chance to read a lot more about these and other strong entries during the next few months. I hope you also check out some of these products at upcoming shows and contact these creative manufacturers to check out their offerings. It’s good to see R&D alive and well in the rental industry. I have a sense that we’re entering a golden age of innovation and if so, manufacturers, rental companies and end users will all be better off for it.