A look back at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2023
With CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2026 right around the corner (3-7th March) Awesome Earthmovers wanted to take you back to the last time the construction industry took to Nevada for the previous iteration of the big show.
CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2023
Our first foray into the world of construction trade shows was to CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2008. It was a time before we’d even seriously thought about picking up a camera to cover the construction industry. Smart phones were only a year old and there were barely any social media platforms or influencers, and certainly not in the form they take today. We came back from the 2008 show with around ten photos, all of which are now lost. It was love at first sight from the 2008 experience and we kept returning to CONEXPO and other trade shows armed with more and better camera equipment.
CONEXPO can trace its heritage back to 1909, at the Ohio State Fairgrounds in Columbus with the Road Show of the American Road Builders Association (ARBA). It eventually became known as The Road Show. In the early days, the show was held irregularly with an 8-year hiatus during WW2. It was held in different locations in Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. There was a name change to The Construction Equipment Exposition in 1960, finally ConExpo in 1975, the last show to be held in Chicago. Since 1987 the show has made Las Vegas it’s home.
The 2023 show saw a big change to the layout with the addition of the new West hall, added to bridge the gap between the Festival Grounds and the North, South and Central Halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center. We had hoped that the addition of the West Hall would see the Festival Grounds made redundant, as the distance from the main convention centre makes CONEXPO virtually unwalkable. A new tunnel network built by Elon Musk’s Boring Company known as the Tesla Loop connects the main convention centre to the new West Hall using Tesla electric cars. Shuttle buses are used to move attendees to and from the Festival Grounds. The previous more compact CONEXPO we last saw in 2017 was easier on the feet.
Many of us attend trade shows to simply see the machinery, especially innovations and very large construction equipment. Unlike Bauma with its mining equipment, CONEXPO usually tops out at 120 tonnes when it comes to earthmoving equipment, with the exception of some crawler cranes on the Liebherr and Kobelco stands. Liebherr brought their 54-tonne PR766 dozer while Chinese manufactures XCMG and LiuGong had their top of the line 90 to 100-tonne class excavators on display. Komatsu had a WA600 wheel loader and PC900 excavator at their West Hall stand while Hitachi had an 890 excavator at their outdoor booth in the Festival Grounds.
It wouldn’t be a trade show without live demonstrations. Huddig were back with their beer bottle opening backhoe for the Third CONEXPO in a row while tiltrotator manufacturers such as Engcon, Rototilt, Steelwrist and Kinshofer showed off the versatility of their products with various attachments. Caterpillar held their Global Operator Challenge on the first day of the show with the winner being Patrick Doheny originally from Ireland but based in Australia. Cat had the largest working demonstration at the show with graders, dozers, excavators, skidsteers and rollers all working together in a purpose-built stadium.
Electric earthmoving equipment which had debuted at the 2020 show in the form of mini excavators, had evolved to larger 20-tonne class machines this year with Komatsu unveiling a PC210E, Cat showing their electric 320 that made its first appearance 6 months earlier at Bauma 2022 and Volvo unveiling their electric 230. Doosan who are now rebranded as Develon had a Prototype autonomous and remote-control excavator/ bulldozer at their large Festival Lot stand. Both could be seen in live demonstrations during the day. One of the highlights for us was seeing Xtreme Manufacturing’s massive quad track XR50100-G telehandler with 50,000 pound or 22.6 tonnes lifting capacity.
139,000 people attended CONEXPO 2023 which is a 6% increase on 2020 and a vote of confidence in the face to face trade show format after 2020’s close shave with COVID-19 that resulted in the show closing a day early. The 3 million+ square foot show was 10.5% larger than 2020 with 2400+ exhibitors from 36 countries including 603 new-to-show exhibitors. 24,000 international attendees registered from 133 countries. There were 91,000 scans of badges to access the 190 education sessions. The global media was represented by 600 people from 33 countries.
In contrast, looking forward to next month; CONEXPO-CON/AGG is hoping to be bigger and better than ever. New releases, showcases and a focus on tech aims to dominate the show next month. Joining those making announcements and release will be Awesome Earthmovers: visit us in the West Hall on stand – WL14006.
From Harry Hunter, Awesome Earthmovers Magazine Editor
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