Page 12 - HUB-4 Magazine Issue 71

Special feature
“The display of machines was staggering and comprehensive and include huge displays from industry leading names such as Hyundai, Sennebogen, Terex Finlay, Terex Ecotec, Rokbak, Kobelco and Hydrema. Also seen were newer additions to the portfolio from CBI, ProStack and AggReclaim.
“Alongside the machine line-up visitors were offered a guided tour of the Molson world- class facilities which included their technology centre and three guided tours to working satellite locations within the Quarrying, Waste Transfer and Waste Wood Processing industries. To be honest it was brilliant event, and I for one look forward to the next edition!” said John.
Judging the market:
Within the middle of a rampant pandemic, the like of which has not been experienced since 1918 making a market judgement is almost akin to looking at a crystal ball! Very much like a conveyor belt everything is fine until the belt stops with subsequent results at both ends with production halted and demand in abeyance. Making a calculated judgement as to when the demands of the market will return has caused considerable head scratching for many companies, but the Molson Group have used the insight from their ERP portal to forecast when the ‘bounce back’ would occur and prepared accordingly.
Robin Powell, Group Joint Managing Director takes up the story, “When calculating the level of industry demand post-covid we decided in the middle of covid to place some of the biggest orders that our manufacturers have ever received. This has given us the ability to offer machines this year when others were closing their order books.
We realised that we were in the middle of a ‘perfect storm’ due to Covid and Brexit and we found with people delaying purchasing decisions this would eventually transition into a period of a higher-than-average demand which is where we are now. Also, the fact that with people running their machines as normal who want to reduce their fleet age down coupled with larger investment within the infrastructure construction industry to counter the effects of covid we knew we had to be prepared.”
Robin continued,” There are three big trends – PCCA – post covid, post carbon and post analogue.”
Examining the three big trends:
Post covid – Molson see their construction industry customers changing from (in Greater London for example) high-rise office blocks, moving to regional distribution depots/ warehousing and similar infrastructure, therefore the type of machines required for projects are more akin to equipment that they supply.
Post carbon – Molson view this as an important thing with the change in fuel duty next year. In the long-term moving on from the diesel combustion engine, with more demand for electric machines. Sennebogen is a prime example as the manufacturer now offers an electric option throughout their range. Molson have also been working with Terex Finlay and Kobelco on hybrid machines and additionally, the Sennebogen range have electric drive machines throughout. In the medium-term, Molson are talking to customers about this change and advising them about how best to adapt their machinery and sites accordingly to embrace this, as this is certainly not the case on most current construction sites. With foresight Molson have already built in-
Hydrema machines on show
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www.hub-4.com Nov-Dec 21 - Issue 71