Welcome Home from World of Concrete

Welcome home from World of Concrete! I hope you've recovered, taken stock of the stack of business cards, and maybe even signed that purchase of a new machine, tool, or product. 

Later in this issue, you'll find a handful of pages of the many happenings we saw during the show (see page 16). But with the show taking up three convention center halls and three outside lots, we aren't able to fit in everything. Check out the pages and then find more in an online collection with additional images and happenings. 

Despite doing as much as we could—we weren't able to see EVERYTHING from the show. There's only so much time in the day. For that, I pose a question: What was the one thing that stood out for you? 

It's been years in the making, but one thing we did notice was the double-down on the battery-powered tools and equipment. Lithium-ion batteries have been around for sure but each year manufacturers seem to take advantage of the comments customers like yourselves are telling them. Keep it up. 

From just off the top of our heads, expect 50+ new cordless tools and dozens of new major equipment machines to be battery-powered by the end of the year. On top of that, it's the further advancement and integration of communication technology for asset management and tracking. These solutions are becoming more intuitive and smart. Not only will they allow contractors to know how much battery life a pack has, but its location, what it's powering, how long, maintenance reports, and more. One brand even gave us a chance to preview a collection of prototypes.

How far will cordless take us? We don't know until we find that bubble, but the further expansion of battery technology is clear. While there are some advantages, the solution has to be right for you, the work you do, and your company. Think about the number of batteries you need, the jobsite infrastructure to charge them all, the attention to manage, etc. 

Yes, we put in miles every day. Maybe next year we'll track. Would anyone be up for a challenge? World of Concrete 2024 returns for its 50th year, January 23-25. It'll be your chance to be in Vegas before the city hosts the Super Bowl that year.

But wait! There's More!

Don't think our tradeshow season is over; we've only just begun. It's been years since, but 2023 marks the return of CONEXPO. I don't know about you but our calendar is getting packed and meeting requests are filling our inboxes. To help us all out keep everything straight, our friends at Equipment Today put together a guide for the show. Find the digital edition at https://issuu.com/forconstructionpros.com. 

See you out there! 

Thank you.