The triennial International Fluid Power Exposition held in Las Vegas this year was overshadowed by one major topic: The coronavirus pandemic created a “No Handshake” policy even before the first booths opened for business Tues., March 10.
The pandemic also forced the departure of four major hydraulic and pneumatic companies: Bosch-Rexroth, Danfoss, Eaton, and Parker-Hannifin. They comprised about 16% of the show floor. The Chinese and Italian pavilions at IFPE also closed.
Those groups decided staying at home would be a smart move in the face of the pandemic. Other companies cut back booth staffing and having international staff and guests attend.
So, attendance was down. That was to be expected. That said, there were more than enough innovative technologies, especially in mobile hydraulics, new seals and materials, and controls, and plenty of company experts eager to talk about them. Attendance seemed good at the technical sessions; I’ve seen lower headcounts in sessions at much better attended shows. And not too many sessions were cancelled.
For their part, show officials put the best face on the show’s attendance and exhibitors. “The crowd was much better than expected under the circumstances and most importantly, the right buyers were on the show floor,” said David Price, IFPE Show chairperson and global marketing manager of HydraForce Inc. “We were very pleased with the strong showing from the 300-plus exhibitors at IFPE 2020, and we are looking forward to the 2023 show.”
“Tuesday for us was record breaking in terms of sales leads and attendance at our booth, which is how we measure how successful the show is for us,” said Mike Ballweber, president of Doosan Bobcat.”
One other highlight came Wednesday afternoon at the Hydraulic & Pneumatics booth.
The event featured an ice cream social, and offered a chance for attendees to meet with H&P editors and team leaders and discuss industry trends.
The show was held in conjunction with CONEXPO, North America’s largest construction trade show. It featured 2.7 million square feet of the latest in construction and agricultural vehicles and equipment, and more cranes than Nebraska sees each spring. It took up most of the room in the Convention Center, but even that cavernous space and the lots around it couldn’t handle it all, so there was more set up at the nearby festival grounds. A fleet of small bus ferried attendees to it and back to the Convention Center.
At the festival grounds, there were more construction vehicles, huge pavilions and even a small stadium set up for some of the equipment to strut its stuff on dirt obstacles that would’ve been at home in an extreme sports event.
Attendance at the CONEXPO was brisk and a bit different from that of most other industrial trade shows. There were lots of kids, ranging from about 6 to 16, which was understandable. What kid doesn’t like getting to gawk at massive shiny trucks, bulldozers and farm vehicles, watching them in action, plus getting to climb all over them without getting yelled at?
While the coronavirus was a topic of every conversation, and it undoubtedly tamped attendance down, no one seemed panicked. Las Vegas and its casinos and restaurants seemed plenty crowded to me. There were also long lines at the show for food and they packed people like sardines on monorail cars coming and leaving the show (no serious worries about social distancing, evidently, at least at that point).
It’s understandable why the show wasn’t cancelled. It took two weeks or so to get all the equipment on site for the event, which will be staged again March 14-18, 2023.
