A medium-duty truck that has been riding in the U.S. Army's tactical fleet for more than one decade is now available for commercial use. Photo: Courtesy of Worldwide Machinery Since 1988, more than 50,000 FMTVs have been built for military use. Contractors can now order them for their own private fleets. Displayed at last month's CONEXPO-CON/AGG construction show, the truck is “a unique beast,” says Chris Wilson, vice president of Channelview, Texas-based Worldwide Industrial Parts and Supply. “It eats the ground, and it just goes and goes and goes,” he adds. A subsidiary of equipment distributor Worldwide Machinery, the firm
Despite sluggish construction activity, the mood was noticeably upbeat at the largest construction event of the year, the CONEXPO-CON/AGG show, held on March 22-26 in Las Vegas. Nearly 120,000 people showed up for the event, where 2,400 exhibitors displayed equipment, products and services over 2.34 million sq ft. The turnout was about 17% lower than the previous CONEXPO, in March 2008, which saw more than 144,000 visitors. However, vendors and attendees alike say that pent-up demand for heavy machinery and related products worldwide lifted the atmosphere in Las Vegas. “The increased global participation by attendees and exhibitors underscores the importance
Although recent reports hint that Caterpillar Inc.'s chief executive is contemplating moving the manufacturer's headquarters outside Illinois, Cat Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman says that�s not true. Photo: Tudor Van Hampton for ENR Peoria, Ill., became the official home of Caterpillar after Calif.-based Holt Tractor Co. and C.L. Best Tractor Co. merged in 1925. "I want to stay here," says Oberhelman in a March 21 letter to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D), in which the Woodstock, Ill., native admits being "wined and dined" by other state governors trying to lure Cat to move its longtime headquarters in Peoria, Ill. "You've
Cleaning up and rebuilding in Japan may be delayed due to a lack of manufacturing capacity of heavy machinery and related components needed to do the job. Exporting construction-related goods from Japan to other parts of the globe could also prove challenging, say suppliers. Photo: Courtesy of Komatsu Production of large wheel loaders like this one are on hold at Komatsu's Ibaraki factory. In particular, heavy-equipment producers, such as Caterpillar Inc., Komatsu Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd. report that the March 11 earthquake and resulting tsunami have hit facilities used to source components and assemble whole goods. Companies have made donations
For any contractor who has ever grumbled about the shortcomings of their Ford E-Series or Chevrolet Express cargo van, the 2012 Nissan NV is welcome news. Photo: Alan Rider for ENR With its new NV commercial van, Nissan has updated the decades-old silhouette of the Ford Econoline and the Chevy Express. Photo: Alan Rider for ENR What all those aggravated work-van owners may not realize, however, is that they’re not alone in their frustration with the status quo, says Mike Hobson, Nissan’s director of commercial vehicles. “Our research showed this segment had one of the lowest levels of owner satisfaction
Eight months into his role as lead executive of the world’s largest producer of construction and mining equipment, Doug Oberhelman was meeting with an ENR Top 400 Contractor when an ENR reporter arrived for an interview. Oberhelman said to McCandless, “Have you ever seen one of these [media interviews] before?” McCandless replied that he hadn’t. “Well then, why don’t you stickaround and watch?” Before long, Steve McCandless, senior vice president of Garney Construction, Kansas City, Mo., and a Caterpillar machinery buyer, became an impromptu part of ENR’s Feb. 10 interview at Caterpillar headquarters, located in Peoria, Ill. He had just
Science-fiction writers have spun countless tales of malevolent, rampaging robots laying waste to helpless cities as panicked citizens flee in horror. Now, life is imitating this pulpy art—at least to some extent—with the emergence of a more benign but immensely versatile type of remote-controlled robot designed specifically for demolition work. Fitted with hydraulic breakers and other attachments, track-based, electrically powered demolition robots can venture into interiors, hazardous environments and confined spaces to dismantle floors, ceilings and wall slabs, keeping workers out of the way of falling concrete and other dangers. Demolition robots, which are free from the emissions issues associated
The triennial CONEXPO-CON/AGG exhibition is thought to be the largest construction event of the year and the largest trade show in the Western Hemisphere. This year’s show, scheduled for March 22-26 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, already is booking up its 2.2 million square feet. Last time the big show came to Vegas, in 2008, the industry and economy were in a much different place. Then, manufacturers couldn’t crank out the machines fast enough. The show set all-time records for attendance and exhibits, with more than 144,000 people perusing nearly 2.3 million sq ft. Soon after, investment bank Lehman
Visitors who spend time in Volvo Construction Equipment’s 30,000-sq-ft booth during the upcoming CONEXPO-CON/AGG expo in Las Vegas will see 19 new pieces of construction equipment that collectively represent the company’s ambitious plans to expand in North America and abroad. Phot:o Courtesy Of Volvo CE Motor graders are one product that Volvo is consolidating at its Shippensburg plant, which it acquired from Ingersoll-Rand. Photo: Courtesy Of Volvo CE Many of those construction machines will come from Volvo CE’s newly expanded and streamlined factory in Shippensburg, Pa., which now produces more than 60 models of asphalt pavers, soil and asphalt compactors,
Big Brother is watching your tools. That’s the idea behind a new asset-management system from Snap-on Industrial. Photo: Courtesy of Snap-on Industrial For its latest tool box, Snap-on installed four to six cameras that take high-speed snapshots of drawers as they are closed. A computer compares those images to stocked drawers and alerts asset managers of discrepancies. Photo: Courtesy of Snap-on Industrial Born in the aerospace field, the company’s latest tool box is designed to help people in construction, especially those who work in high-risk areas that require tight security over “foreign-object damage” or “foreign-material exclusion”—such as nuclear powerplants—or those
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