Welcome Back My Friends…

Every time I go to ConExpo-Con/Agg – and this is now my ninth show – the song “Karn Evil 9 (1st Impression Part 2)” by Emerson, Lake & Palmer starts playing in my head, with those distinctive lyrics: “Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends, I’m so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside.”

Indeed, this is a ConExpo-Con/Agg year and it is coming at the perfect time. Last year the industry started ramping up to take advantage of the FAST Act. This year, the industry hopes to start ramping up to cash in on President Trump’s “$1 Trillion Promise” to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure.

Following a recent Rock Products tradition, this issue features the results of our exclusive Benchmark 2017 survey. This particular survey is interesting in that the buyer-intention questions shed light on how aggregates producers plan to spend money in the coming year.

Approximately 30 percent of the survey group planned to spend up to $500,000. About 27 percent plan to spend $1-5 million this year. Another 27 percent of the survey group planned to spend $5-10 million. Approximately 16 percent planned to spend $500,000-$1 million.

That money will be spent generally on new equipment (70 percent); equipment upgrades (54.81 percent); plant additions (37.78 percent); mine development (34.81 percent) and new plant construction (24.44 percent).

I expect the show floor to be plenty busy with aggregates producers thinking hard about what they want to do to streamline plant operations. This is a critical juncture, because if the industry begins to thrive like many think it will, aggregates producers are going to be slammed, and there will be no time for down time.

If you are a frac sand producer, don’t miss a special Rock Products-sponsored ConExpo-Con/Agg seminar: Frac Sand: How Technology and Market Dynamics Will Drive Future Success. It will take place March 10, from 3 – 4 p.m.

Panelists will be:

  • Joel Schneyer, managing director, Headwaters MB.
  • Mark Krumenacher, senior principal/senior vice president, GZA Geoenvironmental.
  • Matthew Lear, regional sales manager, McLanahan Corp.

Hope to see you there.

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