Episode 62: ConExpo-Con/Agg takeaways and 7 special guests

A high-energy ConExpo-Con/Agg is in the books. P&Q’s Kevin Yanik and Jack Kopanski sat down toward the very end of the five-day show to share their experiences and detail some of the trends that permeated throughout the Las Vegas Convention Center.

In addition, P&Q welcomed seven guests into its booth to capture their ConExpo-Con/Agg perspective and what stood out. This episode’s guests include:

• Matt Dibble, Dibble Equipment (10:33-13:44)

• Stephen Woodcock, Dibble Equipment (13:44-14:46)

• Randy Kunz, GeoLogic (14:46-17:19)

• Ryan Pintar, Major (17:19-20:41)

• Tomaso Veneroso, AMCAST (20:41-23:46)

• Mark Krause, McLanahan Corp. (23:46-28:11)

• Josh Swank, Philippi-Hagenbuch (28:11-35:28)

Additionally, the magazine’s editors preview what you can expect on Episode 63, which will be available toward the end of March.

For 108 years, Pit & Quarry magazine has been the premier monthly aggregate processing information source. Through multiple platforms, we deliver the very latest in equipment and technology news and information that is critical for safely achieving the highest level of efficiency and profitability. Editors Kevin Yanik and Jack Kopanski cover the market in print, online and through e-newsletters. As respected industry insiders, they moderate the annual Pit & Quarry Roundtable & Conference and speak at industry conferences and meetings.
 
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Also, follow us on YouTube to see full-length episodes of the podcast, watch our Road to Prosperity videos and see other clips from our travels and events.

Transcript

SPEAKER_08 0:07

Welcome in everybody. It's another episode of Drilling Deeper. This is episode 62 or at Con ExpoCon Ag. We're gonna talk about our show experience. Got some reflections and takeaways to share from Las Vegas. Looking forward to introducing our guests here in a bit. But first, let's hear a word from our show sponsor.

SPEAKER_07 0:24

Before we get into this episode, a quick word from our show sponsor, Philippi Hagenbaugh. For more than fifty-seven years, Philippi Hagenbaugh has helped the world's aggregates industry move material safer, smarter, and more efficiently. From its autogate tailgates and sideboards to its high value water tanks, Phil designs solutions that work where failure isn't an option in quarries, construction, and heavy-duty job sites around the world. Born and bred in Peoria, Illinois, USA. To learn more, visit PhilSystems.com or call 309-697-9200. That's P-H-I-L-S Y-S-T-E-M-S dot com or 309-697-9200. Thank you to Philippi Hagenbaugh for sponsoring the show.

SPEAKER_08 1:15

Well, thank you to Philippi Hagenbaugh for their show sponsorship here on our first episode of the month of March. And speaking of Philippi Hagenbaugh, we are going to have Josh Swank here later, Jack. But before we get to Josh and some of our other other guests, let's welcome you in. And we're getting near the end of the show here. I know. As we're shooting this one, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_07 1:32

I'm uh I'm feeling it. It's been it's it's been a long week, but it's been a good week. You know, this is one of those shows that is always kind of daunting coming up to it. It's like you know, it's only my second one, but uh after you know, after my experience three years ago, it was kind of like you you start hearing the Jaws theme song playing in your head with every week that gets closer to Con Expo, Con Ag. But I think it was a really good show, uh, a lot of positivity, a lot of optimism, and obviously we'll get into some, you know, some more of our show thoughts uh throughout the episode. But yeah, just I I think it was a I think it was a really solid Con Expo Con Ag.

SPEAKER_08 2:05

Yeah, certainly high energy, a lot of optimism with one of our guests that we'll hear from in a bit. I I kind of mentioned that I was a little unsure where we were as an industry, and I felt like I had tabs on on where we are and where we're going. I know there's a lot of newness in the in the news these days, some some geopolitical developments that have have surfaced, and just wondering kind of what that means for the aggregates industry. But but just walk in the halls this week, visiting with manufacturers and talking to our readers passing by how how they're doing and feeling about things. I mean, it's hard to to go home and leave Las Vegas feeling any worse. I if anything, I feel reinvigorated by where the industry's at and where we're going as an aggregates industry.

SPEAKER_07 2:45

Yeah, absolutely. And I and I think if you look at it, it was it was kind of interesting. I I I know I I talked to some manufacturers that were that were out there, I talked to you, I talked to some of our teammates that you know, Tuesday morning the show starts, and I I was kind of of the mindset, I'm like, it's gonna be, you know, it's gonna be a bum rush, it's gonna be a madhouse. And I was kind of walking the show floor for the first hour, and I looked around, come 10 o'clock, and I'm and we're in the central hall, and I was kind of like, is this it? Is that is that what we get with it? Makes you wonder. It started a little slow, I think. And you know, again, whether that's people traveling or Las Vegas traffic, whatever it be, and you know, maybe maybe they were all outside. It was it's been a beautiful week in Las Vegas. Um, but no, certainly by the you know, by the second half of the day, Monday, all day two, or all day Wednesday, and even into yesterday, um, you know, we've heard from a lot of people that, you know, they're they were just constantly busy at their booth, getting a lot of good leads. Um, so yeah, I think like you said, you know, coming out of the show, it's it's very hard to not feel positive. Uh especially given, you know, you look at the last couple con expos, you you had you sort of had some black clouds hanging over 2020, obviously impacted by COVID. 2023, you're coming out of COVID, you've got a lot of inflation to deal with. This is a year that, you know, a lot of the conversations that it sounds like were had at this show were very sort of one line and it was very positive. It wasn't necessarily necessarily cautiously optimistic, just more so optimistic. And um yeah, just a very, a very refreshing uh event, I think, for to as you put it, sort of get a gauge of where the aggregate industry is right now.

SPEAKER_08 4:23

Yeah, and uh, you know, you mentioned in your last remark at the start there how uh Tuesday, nine o'clock show opens, you're like, yeah, where is everybody? And I was kind of wondering the same thing, but but they did flood in. Tuesday was solid overall, Wednesday was solid, just as you'd expect on the first couple days of a con expo. But as I was kind of walking the show, you know, Jack and I, you know, we're typically going to press conferences and doing booth visits to glean what's the latest, what's your new product launch, what are you what are you talking about here at the show? What do you want producers to know about? Um, but I was kind of just asking, like, who's coming to the booth? What are they saying? What's their profile and makeup? And and uh I do think, and we don't have the total show numbers yet from uh the association running Connect So Conag, but I guess my feeling is that they're probably flat or maybe a little bit down. Um the numbers are still strong, don't get me wrong. But I I do think uh I heard from many exhibitors, Jack, that they were saying that that we have the companies are here, but maybe they're being a little bit more efficient in terms of who they're bringing. And for the most part, people were ready, you know, they're talking about projects, they're talking about wanting to put some money forward. Some manufacturers that I spoke to, they were saying that people were ready to buy on the show floor, and one in particular share that you know Conxpo Conag for them hadn't really in the past been uh a show where people are buying on the show floor. Um but I mean even walk some of these some of these booths, and you know, they've got equipment in there, they've got the sold signs tagged to them, and and the ones that weren't were were in motion to get out the door and sold too. So um just so much positivity to take away from this. And uh again, it didn't even though maybe the show numbers are down a little bit, I think the decision makers were here, and you know, you mentioned inflation, you hit on that, and and all week, Jack, I think we heard about how expensive things are, how Las Vegas especially. I mean they're they're seeing an inflated economic environment, and uh I think because of that, maybe producers, maybe manufacturers were a little bit more strategic on how they went about it, but but uh so maybe they brought fewer people, but they bought people who were here to do business.

SPEAKER_07 6:22

Yeah, absolutely. And I think looking at looking at the numbers, you know, again, maybe maybe it is flat, maybe it is a little down, it almost seems more apt to maybe compare it to, you know, and and I'm gonna be interested to go back once they release the numbers for this year to kind of go back and compare to maybe what 2017 did. Because again, since 2020 was impacted by COVID, 2023, while not directly impacted by it, people, you know, it was the first show after, or the first con expo after people were amped up, they were ready to go, they were, you know, ready to be back in person, see people, be at Con Expo again, so probably drove a maybe a spike in attendance. So, you know, again, even if it is slightly down from last year, I think you can kind of take that with a grain of salt, and again, just sort of look at again uh a lot of the activity. And to your point, I heard a lot of the similar things you did regarding, you know, people buying buying at the show, and not only that, before we came in here, I talked to a manufacturer who said he he, you know, uh scanning all the badges and checking leads and whatnot. He said they had like 220 some credible leads, and and there's still there's still a day left of the show. Like that's astounding. So the fact that people are out here and and maybe it is a more focused group of people coming to the show, but the but the fact that they're out here, they're traversing all the halls and all the lots of the show and they're ready to buy is certainly a promising sign.

SPEAKER_08 7:37

Yeah, it was over at the NSSGA annual convention at the front end of this week too, Jack, and and there was optimism over there. They hosted the convention at at Fountain Blue, Las Vegas. I mean, it's a beautiful hotel.

SPEAKER_07 7:48

I don't know if you did you get over there? Yeah, I did get over there uh a couple nights ago.

SPEAKER_08 7:52

Yeah, it was it was gorgeous. Phenomenal, good location, pretty walkable from from the the host over there to the convention center floor. And uh, you know, they had Terry Bradshaw, he was he was a hit, he was making people laugh, sharing stories, just reinvigorating everybody to to go forward with their with their year ahead. And uh, you know, there was talk too. We had uh I had a conversation here, I didn't hear it myself, but but it was shared that uh Chairman Graves of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee was over there providing some updates talking about the uh the forthcoming or hopefully forthcoming next multi-year surface transportation infrastructure bill. And and uh he was expressing some optimism to get some some momentum and movement on that here, maybe even before the end of March. So um I know that's a question that everybody's wondering at this point in time. And Jack, we we talk regularly on the show about infrastructure and how there's solid funding out there on the federal and really on the state front as well. And uh we are starting to you know ask some questions and wonder what's what's ahead. I think NSSGA's projecting some optimism there as well. And you know, there's a lot, like I said earlier, swirling out there on the geop geopolitical front and and politics or politics. That's not gonna go away ever. But but uh again, I think there's some optimism on that front, you know, that maybe 2026 by the end of September when the IIJ is due to expire, that we can see something. So that optimism was something I didn't necessarily have coming in. You know, we'll see how the next month or two play out because there's there's uh a tight window to get that one done. But that was something that was kind of um a positive signal at the NSSGA annual convention this week. Um and again, a lot of positivity over there. You know, Pit and Cory was over there for for some of the meetings, the board meeting, and and uh yeah, the excitement seen here on the show floor at the Pitt and Cory booth translated over to the to Fountain Blue Las Vegas as well.

SPEAKER_07 9:42

Fantastic. Yeah, and I'm I'm glad to hear that there was some optimism, you know, like you mentioned about the about the IIJA and what might possibly be to come because I know I had some conversations with folks that we were kind of like, we didn't know it's gonna happen, but it's not necessarily the most prime environment to be passing, you know, another multi-billion dollar transportation bill. Is it gonna be a continuing resolution? Is it gonna be you know just sort of a band-aid? Who knows? So to hear that there's some optimism on that front on the NSSGA side is is reassuring.

SPEAKER_08 10:11

Well, Jack and I have got some more commentary we want to share about connexo conag, but before that we want to share some voices from across the aggregates industry. You know, we had a few people in the booth this week. They shared their connexo conag experience, what what it was like at the in their own booths, what they were hearing from customers, what the sentiment was. So we're gonna let you hear from some of the voices of the industry, and then Jack and I will come back on the other side. Well, here at Connexville Conag 2026, hard to believe, but we got Matt Dibble, Dibble Equipment in the booth. Matt, how are you doing today? Great. Thank you for having me. We're sitting down here day two, I guess, morning of, and you can hear the people in the background probably if you're listening to the show. But but how's uh Connexville been for you? And I know I saw you over at the NSSGA annual convention for a couple days. How's Vegas treating you so far, Matt?

SPEAKER_04 10:54

It's been great. So you know, every time we get out here, it's awesome. We can see our manufacturers, see our customers, so it's been awesome.

SPEAKER_08 11:00

Well, what's the energy you're feeling this week? And I guess coming into what was your expectation and and how is it kind of playing out here as we're on the core couple show days here starting out 2026's con expo?

SPEAKER_04 11:12

Uh it's it's been awesome. Everybody's excited. Uh it's a good turnout this year. So, you know, we're here, we're we're with customers, our manufacturers are here, so everything's going well.

SPEAKER_08 11:21

Yeah. But what when you sit down with with customers, when you sit down with dealers, I mean, what's your ultimate game plan at the end of the day? What are you trying to achieve, get home to the East Coast with that kind of help move things further along as your spring gets gets going pretty soon?

SPEAKER_04 11:35

Well, I think the the the nice part about this show is that you've got your customers are here and there's people at the your manufacturers that you're talking to on the phone or through email, but now everybody's in the same room. So you can bring people over and you can have meetings and you can and you can really one, you can see equipment firsthand that's in their booth. Um and but you can it you can talk about stuff and and have in-person meetings, which is which is awesome. So it's good for us. Um, you know, like we're always sort of in between, like in between the customers and manufacturers. But having but everybody in the same room and you can have in-person meetings is that's one of the best things about these shows and agwon and con expo and that that sort of thing. So it's been awesome.

SPEAKER_08 12:18

Man, from RC to Pit and Corey, Con Expo and Ag One, the big shows, it's usually about new equipment, new technology, product launches. A lot of your vendors, they're they're bringing us into their booth, they're talking about what's new, what they prepared over the last three years to bring to the market here in 2026. So, you know, for us, it's exciting to be able to share that with our readers, your customers. I guess I wonder as a dealer, as you're getting the next generation a new wave of equipment and technology coming out. What what does that mean for you as a dealer? I mean, you guys are obviously trying to balance a lot, you're trying to get keep up with the day-to-day, but obviously some things may change, maybe some dynamics may shift. So um in terms of the newness at Conexpo, what what does that mean for you as a dealer? Does that have a big imp impact?

SPEAKER_04 12:59

It does, yeah. Um one of the companies that we represent is Haze Mag, and Haze Mag is an unbelievable company, and they have uh they they're they're a leader in technology for sure. So they've they've got a cone crusher here in their booth, which is which is great to see. Uh it's not a new pro product at all, but it's something that they haven't had in the booth yet before. Um and they have they have a product called Haze Optic, which is which is here, which is I think kind of an industry leading uh piece of technology where you can actually get a belt cut uh with a with a camera that's reading your gradation on a on a belt, which is uh I think it it's uh it's unbelievable. So I think if anybody that's out here they should definitely go check that out because it's it's something that's we you know it's not out there in the industry yet, and it's really a cool piece of technology.

SPEAKER_08 13:45

Well, here at ConexoCon AG 2026, back in the pit and quarry booth, and we've got Stefan Woodcock from Dibble Equipment. Stefan, how you doing today?

SPEAKER_06 13:52

Very well, very well, happy to be here.

SPEAKER_08 13:54

Great to have you. And before we turn the cameras on, you mentioned this is your first connexocon ag. I mean, obviously you've you've heard quite a bit about it, I'm sure, but but uh this is probably your first or second day seeing the show. What's your what's your assessment of what you've seen thus far?

SPEAKER_06 14:08

It's awesome. It's a show I've always wanted to be, you know, be at and and uh you know spend a lot of time in this industry so to to come out and see what's going on, what's new and everything. It's it's a pretty spectacular show. It's very big. I've done some Mag Ones before, you know, the smaller versions, but uh yeah, it's been it's been awesome.

SPEAKER_08 14:25

Do you have a game plan as you're walking around the floor, visiting with your your partners, that sort of thing?

SPEAKER_06 14:30

Yeah, so we try to we try to spend a lot of time with our OEMs, we try to get customers out to our OEMs, you know, just to just to kind of form the relationships, direct with those guys. And uh yeah, so just just really just a lot about you know relationship building and on on both sides, OEM customer.

SPEAKER_08 14:45

Yeah. We've got Randy Coons in the Pit and Quarry booth here at Con Expo Con Ag 2026. Randy, welcome to Con Expo. It's your first one. How's it going so far?

SPEAKER_05 14:54

Uh it's going great. There's a lot of people here, so it's uh it's really neat to see all the equipment and all the people. We've been able to connect with a lot of uh clients here too.

SPEAKER_08 15:02

So we've seen you at out and about at industry events. I know you're at the Georgia Construction Aggregate Association show, which is a great event in Atlanta. Um seems like just based on how shows are doing these days, it's just an indicator of the health of the industry. And and I'm guessing you guys saw a pretty nice turnout in Georgia, and you know, being here in Las Vegas, I mean, is this basically what you expected and based on every all the things you've heard over the years, I'm guessing?

SPEAKER_05 15:26

For sure. Um I would say that uh there's actually more people here than we were anticipating. Um we weren't sure, you know, a couple other events we've been to, maybe not as much attendance, but it looked really, really healthy here. Um I would say at GCA that we went to, like you mentioned last week, it was really healthy. And um I I think this is you know an impressive turnout. Um and I think everything we're hearing is that even with a lot of things going on, um, you know, that uh there's a really good outlook for 2026. I think all the producers that we work with have a really good outlook uh for 20 six.

SPEAKER_08 16:00

Yeah. You guys are in a little bit of a different boat industry-wide. I mean, people coming here to Con Expo, they're looking for equipment and technology. I mean, you guys do some services, but I think what we see here at Con Expo translates to, well, there's demand and there's there's desire for producers to want to want to do things, to grow, to spend money. They have capital to spend potentially. So I guess in your world, based on what you're seeing with demand, again, you were at that show last week. You know, you guys are just getting into spring here with uh with your probably new opportunities or some projects you're working on. So so what do you see in in in your world, you know, in the services world right now for demand? Because again, you're with with geologic.

SPEAKER_05 16:37

Yeah, I mean we're seeing a lot of activity still on uh acquisitions uh side of things. Um there's a lot of uh um activity going on with green sites, so a lot of operators are um you know pursuing new quarries. Um you know, I think this uh with the the current administration, they feel like this is a good time to pursue some of those things. Um and so there's been a lot of profits made the last few years, a lot of capital that can be spent. Um I notice a lot of equipment on the floor here has first you know, sold sign. We're only halfway through and there's sold signs on a lot of that equipment. And so I think uh there's a lot of investment being made right now, um which is obviously keeping us busy um as well.

SPEAKER_08 17:17

We've got Ryan Pintar in the Pitt and Quarry booth here at Connex with Con Ag. It's day four. We're winding down. Ryan, how are things going in in Central Hall, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:24

That's right, in Central Hall, and uh thanks very much for having me.

SPEAKER_08 17:27

Yeah, great, great to have you. I mean, it's been from our seat pr pretty exciting show thus far. I mean, slowing down a little bit here toward the back end, but that's every connect. Well, that's every major show, but but uh what what were you seeing in terms of activity in the the major booth thus far? What what were people saying? Overall, it seems like there's some excitement, but what were some of the sentiments that you were hearing from from customers, dealers, and others who visited?

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Yeah, well, I mean it's exactly like you said, uh by the time we get to Friday, the the traffic certainly does die down. Um so we are seeing a noticeable difference today versus Tuesday and Wednesday. However, I would say that on Tuesday and Wednesday, everybody at our booth was surprised with how much traffic we had. We brought extra people this year to because we did think that we were gonna have more traffic and we even exceeded those expectations. So the vibe's been really, really great. Everyone's having a really good time. And uh one thing that we love about Con Expo was that we know seeing we call them our competition, of course, they are the the the the competitors, but everyone in our in our industry, us and uh, you know, screening, uh excuse me, uh unified, whoever else, you know, we're all friends and we all see each other at each other's booths and come say hello.

SPEAKER_08 18:32

Yeah, for sure. I think one sentiment I've been hearing a little bit this show is that the numbers are strong. Maybe they're gonna be a little bit down. I think we'll know toward the end of the show, maybe the last day they're gonna put out some some final numbers, but but like the right people were here and there were decision makers here. And I just had a conversation before you got into the booth with uh with Mark Krause, and he was basically saying how decision makers are are on hand and uh like they're ready to buy, there's there's some fervor, and there's more buying activity happening at this show than maybe PassCon Expos. I don't know, is is that the sort of profile of person you're seeing coming into the booth walking the show?

SPEAKER_00 19:05

So I mean with the screening media, we don't necessarily have someone that's coming in and like it's it's different for equipment. That's right, because they they come in and they wanna buy that that screen box and leave with it, right? Whereas us, it's really always usually informative. Um the large majority of people that come by our booth is they have a problem, whether it be pegging, blinding, any other issue, and they're looking for a solution. And luckily that's what major provides. We don't provide a screen, we provide solutions.

SPEAKER_08 19:30

You guys brought out the the the woven thermo screen this year. I mean, I'm always finding fascinating that that screen manufacturers are continuously innovating and and finding new ways to solve problems, like you said. Um maybe you could tell us a little bit about that and and what's ultimately driving product development these days at manufacturing.

SPEAKER_00 19:47

Yeah, I mean the the product development comes straight from customer feedback. Uh the thermo screen that you mentioned is a great example of that. Over the last, at least certainly in the four years that I've been here, we've had huge demand from our customers saying, hey, we need a screen that works better in asphalt applications. What can you do for us? And that's the innovation that led to what we came up with.

SPEAKER_07 20:05

And now a quick word from our sponsor, Smiley Monroe. Machinery downtime costs operations thousands. For over forty-five years, Smiley Monroe has solved this with conveyor belts and components built for extreme conditions. From one-hour install zip clip belts to tough flex and hot spliced endless belts, plus integrally molded cleats and cut length options, they keep material flowing. For more information, visit smiley monroe.com. Thank you to Smiley Monroe for sponsoring this episode of Drilling Deeper.

SPEAKER_08 20:36

We're in the booth here at Con Expo Con Ag with Tommaso Veneroso of Amcast. Tomaso, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Good, good. Thank you, Kevin. Thank you for the opportunity, as always. Good to see you guys. Top magazine in the industry.

SPEAKER_08 20:49

Well, we appreciate that. You've been a friend of the magazine for many years, and great to see you here at another Con Expo. I mean, we're here kind of getting to the finish line. It's uh it's day four, so we've got kind of a good impression of what the show was like at this stage. It's starting to fade away here a little bit on Friday in terms of traffic. But but what have you seen the first three days, Tommaso? I mean, I'm sure you guys had some people come through the booth. What's the what's the sentiment you're here and what's the mood out there at this point in time?

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Um I think that was this show was uh there was a lot of probably more energy compared to the last show. Uh I saw a lot of uh interest overall on um topics that I'm also personally in in my kind of leadership role, which is uh in our case, sustainability and uh uh ESG topics and uh make things uh better in terms of of sustainability sense of beside the performance and things. And overall uh working across the industry, um a lot of uh think tank, uh a lot of feedback from from the industry at large, from producer to manufacturer capital equipment, uh learn new things, new technologies, uh big role of AI and the new world that is changing also in our industry at large. So it was a nice um I would say meaningful show in terms of uh depth of topic and um uh very very impressed this year. And also from an organization standpoint it seems everything is flowing better. Maybe it's a feeling, I don't know. Yeah. Uh but uh and plus uh as you remember there were a couple of COVID times, so maybe we have still that memory in the back of our head, but uh was very, very, very nice.

SPEAKER_08 22:24

Yeah, no, that wasn't too long ago.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

I mean a couple of editions ago, but uh it was um yeah, no, uh a lot of energy. I uh I enjoyed it. It's uh it's kind of most uh it's one of as you said, it's like on the Fridays, like kind of phasing out, so you wait three years, you prepare for three years, and then it's like Christmas and Yeah, I feel like we've been we've been kind of lucky or fortunate as an industry.

SPEAKER_08 22:47

I mean, we've had a a really strong run, I mean, consecutive year after year of of pretty good growth. And the feeling right here, you know, being at Con Expo, just having conversations, is that we're gonna have more of that here in 2026. I mean, it's still in the first quarter and we're seeing some interesting things develop, you know, across the world at this stage. But but everyone seems, you know, very optimistic still. I mean now it even kind of motor that up a little bit to say we're starting to move from cautiously optimistic to maybe even more more just genuine optimism just because of where things are.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

I that's a a very good point. I think uh there is a major, not a major, but definitely a lot of energy on uh this unknown thing, which is the real economy, in a world that everything is uh virtual, a lot of businesses that are kind of moving the same dollar. Uh I think that is very nice to see that there is still a lot of energy in in uh the real economy where we make the dollar, right? So it's uh I'm very excited about that.

SPEAKER_08 23:39

We've got Mark Krause from McKlanahan Corporation in the booth.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

Mark, great to see you. How you doing today? Doing well. It's kind of the end of the week, but uh all in all, lots going on, and it's good good to be part of the energy.

SPEAKER_08 23:49

Yeah, no, it's been an exciting week. We're hearing pretty much only good things. I mean, that's pretty much us that's pretty much usually the case, I guess I would say, for Conn Expo, but but uh you know, you've been here since since the weekend, the NSSGA annual convention, and and congratulations first off the top here on being the recipient of the 2026 Barry K. Wendt Memorial Commitment Award. That's a huge honor. Yes, it is. They flashed the names from over the over the years. I guess it's been about been about thirty years since 29 years. Twenty nine years. Yeah, and and uh, you know, they they made it known at the uh at the board meeting where they distributed that that award to you and shared it with you that that you had worked with him and had great history. So I mean that's got to be tremendously meaningful to you.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

It very much is I have somebody that actually was one of my best mentors of all time to to win the award name for him is really special. And again, a lot of the things that Christy said about his life, I think I like to have hope that I've done the same.

SPEAKER_08 24:39

Yeah, yeah. Well, again, we're here at Conn Expo and NSSGA's convention was over there at the uh the Fountain Fountain Blue Las Vegas this week and and a lot of high energy, but but you know, we're kind of getting toward the finish line here on Cone Expo, Mark, and how would you characterize you know what you've what you've heard both here and across the way at Fountain Blue at the NSSGA annual convention? Um mostly positive sentiment. You hearing any questions, concerns? Where are we at?

SPEAKER_02 25:03

I'd say you know from the from the NSSGA side, just a lot of optimism about the highway bill getting it done ahead of time. I'm not sure I share that optimism just because who knows what's all going on in the world. Right. It usually waits the last minute. So I think by the time we hit LPF in September, there'll still be some questions. But I I I guess I can see that they're confident that it'll happen because again, we're such a necessary thing, and they're gonna need some wins, so I anticipate we'll get that. Other than that, it was just a lot of energy. It's that that to me is the biggest takeaway. My biggest takeaway this week was when I did my class, question one-on-one, and then came out of the hall, and I'm coming from West Hall to the Central Hall, and you just see this mass humanity of people trying to move like I'm at a football game or something like that. And I've don't I don't remember that kind of energy level before. And there's just the number of people that came to the class and that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_08 25:49

Just 260 people. 260 people.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

You know, usually we average like 125. Right. So the the fact it was that big and and people asking a lot of questions and interested, uh, I just think kind of sums up the whole week. Uh the other thing I think I'd say about this week is that it's been a little more buying than usual. You know, we think Obama as a buying show. We don't think of Con Expo as a buying show, but this one seems more like okay, people have been waiting and they're gonna step forward and make the investment and and take the if you want to call it risk, but just uh plan for the future and and not worry about what's happening today.

SPEAKER_08 26:20

Yeah. I think maybe something I'm taking away after four days of Con Expo is that the numbers may be a little down, and I'm not sure we haven't we haven't heard those yet. But we've got maybe the right people on the floor, there's decision makers on the floor. And I feel like we've been talking about efficiency more and more at Pitt and Quarry, you know, with with OEMs and producers, and you know, it doesn't matter how you're being efficient. Um, but I suppose in a way it kind of translates to the show and how how producers, you know, your customers are maybe going about it. So maybe whereas in the past they're sending droves of people here in 2026, they're being a lot more strategic because things are expensive. I mean, Las Vegas the pricing is unlike we've ever seen.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

Right, it sure has. And I'd say the other thing is this idea that they're gonna try and use Friday and Saturday to be maintenance focused. And we had some people in the booth this morning that are headed over to the North Hall because that's where they're gonna do the sessions. And I'm interested to see how that works out because again, it's trying to bring a different group of people in, it trying to extend the show and and make something on the back end that normally doesn't happen. I'll be interested to see how that goes. But you're right, other than that, um uh numbers, I don't know. We've seen waves kind of through the booth, but again, the people that we've seen are coming in and wanting to talk about actual projects, not just kind of you know, renew your relationship that you haven't had in a little while.

SPEAKER_08 27:30

Right. Mark, back to the crushing one on one presentation. I mean, to be double or more than double. Well like what was the makeup of the profile of the person in the audience? I mean, I'm guessing a lot of young or or middle-aged.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

A lot of young and and a lot of I don't want to say inexperienced that sounds bad, but just say people that are learning, yearning for knowledge. I had six people, I think if I counted, that actually had seen me before. So that means there's a lot of new people, a lot of new exposure, and that's what I get excited about, just the the chance to share that passion for the industry, but also, you know, some key takeaways so that they learn something and want to come back and learn some more. But you know, that's all part of the energy that I felt this week. It just was really exciting.

SPEAKER_08 28:06

We're here at Con ExpoCon Ag with Josh Swang of Philippi Hagenbah and the Pit and Cory booth. Josh, how you doing here this morning? Doing great, Kevin. Thanks so much for having me. And uh yeah, another great con expo. For sure. I I can't say I've ever been to a a bad con expo. I guess we were there in 2020, you know, and it was an interesting one. It's it's not one that we're never gonna forget, but uh but overall, I mean, my career and I'm sure yours, these have been pretty great events and indicative of where we are and where we're going as an industry.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

They are, you know, there's optimism, and and anytime you feel that energy, that optimism from uh people in our industry, uh, it's palpable. You know, we it just it just gives us uh the the drive to you know keep doing better things and uh keep growing. And uh we've certainly heard that. I've been to shows, not necessarily a con expo, where you didn't have that optimism, and that is not at all what we're feeling. And coming into a time where the highway bill is uh sunsetting for right now until it gets renewed, uh, I didn't know what how the feeling would be at this show. Glad to hear that people are are excited.

SPEAKER_08 29:11

Yeah, it's interesting that that maybe you were had a little uncertainty on in terms of where the mood was coming in. I've kind of felt that way all of 2026. I mean, and we're here in March, but I think being here at Con Expo, I was definitely re-energize and and uh feel better about where the industry is going. Not that I felt necessarily bad about it, I just felt a little uncertain, but it seems like people were excited, and again, for me coming in with some uncertainty, it gave me a little bit more comfort, I'd say.

SPEAKER_03 29:36

Absolutely. I mean, we we follow trends really closely at Philippi and um presidential years, there's always uncertainty until the until the race is done, regardless of who gets in. And con expo years. Uh the clock clock strikes midnight on uh January 1st and um things shut down. People kind of just chill out until after Con Expo, uh, and then then then things start moving forward in our industry. So it's nice to have that uncertainty behind us. You know, we're we're closely coming out of the uh winter downturn uh for a lot of uh aggregate operations that have their winter shutdown. Uh they're gonna start producing here shortly, and the people are excited.

SPEAKER_08 30:19

Well, Josh, I was in your booth the other day and and you were sharing some numbers and talking about how you have tracked some history over the years in terms of sales leads. I can't say I've talked to any other manufacturers that have the history that that you do, but but you kind of have some interesting insights in terms of what Tuesday's like at Con Expo, what Saturday's like. You have a pretty strict breakdown in terms of of where the the lead generation resides.

SPEAKER_03 30:40

We do. Um, yeah, we have uh we capture a lot of data at Philippi, and uh that data helps us interact with with you know our clients and prospects. Um you know, from a con expo standpoint, all the way back to 2005 Con Expo, the trend is that the first day is always the best day, you know, about and this is completely based on scanned leads for us. And we don't scan nearly everybody that comes into our booth, we only scan new people or people that we have to make a note on. Uh, so it's a it's a much smaller number than people that scanned everybody. But the first day, uh, it's the strongest. We see about 28.8 percent of the total uh uh uh participation uh in our booth on that first day. The second day is really strong as well. That's right at about 27 uh percent. Third day it starts dropping, 21 uh point nine percent. Uh and we certainly saw that yesterday. And uh today being uh the fourth day, uh the Friday, it really drops off. Uh about 13.8 percent of the total con Expo uh visitors that stop through our booth uh are on that fourth day. And then tomorrow. Tomorrow is uh there's always a last day though. Has to be. There's always a last day. So regardless if it's a three-day show or a five-day show, we're gonna see the same trend. Tomorrow it's gonna be about 3.7%. Yeah. It's it's a quiet day. Uh I don't anticipate football being played in the aisles like uh we've seen at some shows in the past. This kind of expo has been amazing. The the traffic, the numbers, the engagement, uh, the optimism, um, just the questions and uh participation from from people in our industry, whether it's aggregates uh or or construction, it's been amazing.

SPEAKER_08 32:25

What's the nature of the conversations that you guys are having in the booth? I feel like we've heard from some manufacturers, exhibitors here at Conexpo that they were saying, man, people are ready to buy, and you know, Con Expo is not necessarily a the a buying ready type show historically, but but that those are the sorts of asks they're they're getting from from their customers. And at the end of the day, I mean, are you seeing that the decision makers are here, the right people are here?

SPEAKER_03 32:46

We are absolutely seeing decision makers. We're seeing uh CEOs, heads of purchasing, heads of operation, uh, and equipment superintendents. Those those tend to be the four people that uh interact with us and make those decisions. And um uh they're they're needing things, but they're they're looking uh for two things primarily. Number one is safety. Everything in our industry is about safety, and it uh it it's never been more important. Uh and we have the tools to help our operations be efficient and safe. So that's number one. And then the second one is uh pr uh productivity. Uh productivity, both hauling more material, but also it's so hard to hire people. It's not that people want uh smaller uh work uh teams, uh fewer FTEs. It's hard for them to hire people. So what can they do with the teams they have? Uh stretching uh their their equipment, optimizing their equipment uh to maximize their peel payload ultimately is is what we're seeing on this. So we have had we along with the numbers of who comes to our booth on what days, we look at product type and what products are the most important by year uh and and show. And you know, being the company that invented the tailgate back in 1969, that's our number one product uh in terms of volume. That's what everybody knows Philippi for. And the tailgate is is the number one on this show as well for the amount of interest. But oh my gosh, the level of interest in our water tanks this year is outstanding. And it that really comes back to both of those key points, safety and productivity. They're looking at uh just how safe these tanks are, uh, with the baffling, the internal doors, the external access, and really uh eliminating that surge from front to back, side to side. Since we're truly compartmentalizing the water inside, they are loving that. Uh additionally, since our tanks are about 20% larger in volume of anything else out there, uh, and we can achieve that because we're designing each one for every single make and model of truck instead of doing a generic size on a ton class truck, for example, one design that fits on all 40 ton trucks, we don't do that. We're gonna design it specifically for the HD 325 or the 770 or whatever it's going on. And uh so from a productivity on a water tank side that's you know a a uh support piece of equipment that isn't a tradition traditionally thought of as a production piece of equipment, uh, that was fantastic. But the thing that really surprised me, Kevin, is the interest in our bottom dump trailers. That is something I've never seen in the aggregate side. Uh we see it in all sorts of unique materials like salt, diatomaceous earth, sugar beets, uh sugar cane, really weird stuff out there, right? But not in aggregates. But it comes down to the rule of thumb is that you can pull double what you can haul. More about productivity, productivity, and added efficiencies, I suppose, at the end of the day. Absolutely. So I mean if you have a 40-ton haul truck that could hold 40 ton, you can pull 80 ton. And with that, again, it's so hard for them to hire drivers and other people for their operations. They're thinking, hey, we have this one truck that we have to maintain, we can add a trailer and haul double the amount. You know, so that really comes down to that payload and productivity and efficiency side. So we're help, I mean, we have solutions to help people with their staffing concerns.

SPEAKER_08 36:24

Well, thanks again to our guests. It was great to have some industry leaders in the booth here in the grand lobby at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Jack, I know you were busy, you were collecting some content for some future episodes, but but again, great to hear such positivity. Honestly, Jack, it's kind of funny. I mean, I didn't really hear any negativity across the show floor. And, you know, coming in, I think I mentioned at the top, I was a little un unsure about where we were at, but just having so many conversations this week, it really gave me confidence that the aggregates industry's in a very good spot, healthy. Even some tailwinds are coming, coming about to help propel us forward, it seems, and uh just excited to get the the year going and crushers up and running and fired up.

SPEAKER_07 37:04

Yeah, yeah, 100%. Right before we we came in here to to your point of not hearing a lot of negativity, we we I I'd popped into a booth and we were kind of just saying that, you know, yeah, it's been a very really positive show. It's been it's been it's been a great, you know, good conversations, a lot of people. And one guy goes, I've got a negative comment. And we're like, oh man, like what's what's he gonna say? He goes, I'm ready to go home. And I'm like, so if that if that's the most amount of negativity that that we've got from this show, then yeah, I I I think I I think we did all right.

SPEAKER_08 37:33

Yeah. The days are long. Yes. The week flies by, the week the week is short. It's almost like people say when you're you have a kid, I mean, the days are long, but the years fly by. The con X boat con X show is very much the same.

SPEAKER_07 37:45

I'm sure. As someone without a kid, I'll go ahead and agree that that analogy works both ways.

SPEAKER_08 37:50

I started thinking it midway through the show. Uh it's very much, very much the same. In one day, Jack, you're gonna be there and get that great experience as well. So that's right. Um, but uh wanted to talk a little bit about the equipment and technology trends that that we saw on the trade show floor. And we talked about some of them coming in. I mean, predictive maintenance, safety, technology, AI was was kind of a big one. I was out the other day in the festival grounds in Caterpillar's giant booth, the operator stadium. You know, I don't know if you got over there, Jack, or maybe tomorrow get a chance to check it, check out the festival grounds, because it's it's something to see all those cranes up in the air and and a lot of rolling stock in that uh that that yard that's about a mile and a half from where we're sitting right now. That kind of goes to show the the giant footprint that Con X with Con A is, but but uh I got a chance to visit with a cat representative and they were talking about their cat AI assistant and really awesome opportunity. They put a lot of work into that, and and there's probably more iterations to come. You know, the the representative was really kind of sharing how how uh they've got a program for technicians. So, you know, as they're working on equipment and they just hit a wall and they're not sure, you just cue this up almost like it's a chat GPT type thing. That's kind of what they showed me. It looked like Caterpillar's version of Chat GPT. Um, you know, you punch in a question and they've got all their resources booked in there and they can help technicians out. And the same thing on the operator front, they were showing me some of the abilities that they can do with with operators in the cab. And you know, if you're not sure or you get an air or something, I mean you've got an assistant right at your fingertips, and and uh, you know, I was talking about that concept, just AI and how companies can go about incorporating that to their own offerings and and I think we're still in the infancy on a lot of that, but I think we're gonna see more and more companies make that investment. It is a big investment. You know, I was talking to Mark Krause this week of uh of McClagan and and he was saying, well, you know, maybe not everybody's gonna do it, um, because it is expensive and it it does take a lot of a lot of resources and a lot of cost, but uh I mean the gains that can be had there are tremendous and I'm just eager to see where where we go on that front as it relates to to rolling stock and and other equipment processing equipment that that's common in aggregate operations.

SPEAKER_07 40:04

Yeah, absolutely. And and you mentioned kind of that idea of of CATS version of AI, and I actually encountered something similar. I was in the command alcon booth, they they had uh were we're talking about what I believe they call batch AI, and it's basically you know a way that again it it compiles it compiles all the data of you know how many trucks you've run, how many loads you've produced, XYZ data, and you can punch in questions just asking, tell me how many of this I've done, tell me how many of these are working. And it was a really fascinating kind of thing because again, the screen just kind of looks like you know, like you're talking to Chat GPT, Perplexity, Grok, Claude, whatever, and it's able to provide that info, and it's and it's nice because it's kind of it's siphoned into that world of whatever your operation is, so that kind of reduces the possibility of weird hallucinations. You know, you're not gonna ask it how many trucks do I have running, and it's gonna tell you about Miley Cyrus's latest song or anything like that. So that was very that was very fascinating. Again, autonomy and AI uh were certainly big trends that I saw as well. Another one that stuck out to me was and it's one we've been covering a lot, is just the idea of condition monitoring and whether or not it is sort of on on the from the side of increasing or encouraging proactive maintenance, but just the idea of giving an operator an idea of how either a piece of equipment as a whole or how different parts of the equipment are how they're how they're faring, if they're you know, if you're gonna need to replace them, if you're gonna need you know, if they're if they're overheating, if they're vibrating too much, or they're not vibrating enough, if they're running dry. Um so you know, just that idea of just as m providing operators and end users with as much inf actionable information as possible was uh a super prevalent trend that I noticed from a lot of different manufacturers across the show.

SPEAKER_08 41:53

Yeah. Another one, maybe not as as big of a trend, but I I do think I got into a variety of booths this week and and companies were were presenting solutions, simpler solutions. So maybe I'll just call the trend simplicity. I mean, for example, I think McLanahan, they had their quick change filter cloth system, and you know, they took a concept that that was labor-intensive and very time-intensive, you know, and maybe a little unsafe for for historically. This is how the aggregate industry would would handle filter cloths and change them out. You know, and they they found some a way to do it to design it and re-engineer it in in a much safer way. And uh actually they had Corey Jensen in the booth and he was doing a demonstration of how quickly they can change one of those, and he did it in 13 seconds. They had a timer going and everything, and and um you know, Aztec that same thing with their jaws, and you know, I saw that with master power transmission and how they're redesigning uh a gearbox. They were in the the uh Bell Tech booth out in Central Hall. So so again, just the idea of like simplifying equipment, you know, taking age-old processes, age-old designs, and just kind of reimagining what it could be, and you know, you you'd have maintenance, and I think that really kind of speaks to all of it because um, you know, we talk about just the issues that we have with the workforce, and you know, if you could do things a little bit safer, if you don't have to to lug as much stuff out there into the field up on the the crusher when you when you're doing something, um that's all all for the better. It's gonna make our industry jobs that much more enticing. Um we're gonna be more efficient at the end of the day. So uh I thought that was something that kind of permeated across the trade show floor. And I think a lot of that too, Jack, it just kind of it originates from the pain points that are felt in the field because you know, again, I think manufacturer after manufacturer share that that uh you know those designs really were byproducts of feedback from what's happening in the field, and they're looking for simple simplicity, they're looking for for safer ways to go about doing business to make maintenance just a pain free exercise. So um so kudos to everybody who that that pursued something like that and made things a little bit simpler, that tightened things up a little bit. Little bit and and uh yeah it was exciting to see a lot of that.

SPEAKER_07 44:03

Yeah, and and and you hit on it, and I'll just kind of wrap up my sort of my tech tech and equipment trends thoughts with this. You know, you mentioned simplicity and you even talked a little bit about the safety side. I I would go so far as to say I think with just about every development or sort of new product or new technology that came out, it really did feel like safety was sort of core value number one, as you know, as is the case in this industry. Um it may not have been front and center in what was displayed, but again, like you said, kind of that idea of you know, maybe maybe it is simplifying maintenance or uh again with the idea of conditioner proactive monitoring, uh getting to something before there's a catastrophic failure, whatever the trickle down is, the base a lot of times seem to be we want to make operations safer for our employees. And you know, I think that certainly comes through in a lot of what you see on the show floor here.

SPEAKER_08 44:59

Absolutely. Well, another con expo down, Jack. I mean, you got your second one under the belt. You'll be ready to go for number three here in 2029. Yes, sir. It's probably gonna be here before we know it. I know. And uh, yeah, I mean, I feel stronger coming out of this one. I was a little nervous coming into it. I actually got sick the week before. Right. Better to be sick not at Con Expo than than at Con Expo and stuck in in a hotel or an Airbnb like we were in this week here in Las Vegas. But uh, but congrats. I mean, we didn't fully make it through the show, but but I think we'll probably get through Saturday, day five of five, and and uh, you know, a lot to unpack when we get back to the the office in Cleveland, but uh surely we're gonna have more coverage in um in our next print edition, which will be May. We actually put April to bed before we even get out got out here. And um you can look for cer some of our con expo content and coverage on pit and quarry.com slash conexpo. And again, we're gonna have a lot to unpack. It's always a tremendous ordeal, but but we'll get through it all and and get all the um the great and exciting news and developments, equipment and technology enhanced enhancements out to you as as soon as we can.

SPEAKER_07 46:03

Yeah, yeah, and I'll just say congratulations to you as well for getting this one under your belt. I know you were running around like crazy, different, you know, dedicating a day to a day to the South Hall, a day to the festival grounds, platinum loud going crazy. So yeah, we definitely uh say Mason, Mason behind the camera here doing a lot of video and audio stuff for us, Robin Dino running around crazy as well. So uh I say I think I think from the pit and quarry side, an another another success. Yeah, I feel good about it.

SPEAKER_08 46:30

And I'm sure we're gonna have more content from the show. We heard from from some guests today, obviously, and we're gonna have some additional sentiments, you know, on the business front, on the equipment and technology front that that we'll cut for later podcast episodes, and we'll probably slice and dice those for for some shorter videos that you can consume on pit and quarry.com as well. But but uh we do have some insights on our very next episode. That's gonna be with PPI. And you know, Jack, I know you sat down with Tim Wolf here just the other day. Yesterday, I guess it was. And uh can you offer some details on what we're gonna see on episode 63?

SPEAKER_07 47:02

Yeah, so I was joined by uh Tim Wolf, Vice President of Engineering with Precision Pullion Idler PPI. Uh and they are really well, I I guess I should say a focus of their booth this year was on their new product, their precision composite roller PCR. So I basically sat down with Tim and he kind of gave me a run-through of you know what the product is, how it can best serve the aggregate industry, what the you know, design and development process was like, uh, how it differs from other products on the market, you know, when when it can when it might be expected to be available, because he talked a lot about working with uh with a company uh abroad that is that manufactures very similar components, and then they're actually working on a uh facility in Iowa that will manufacture it that should be done later this summer, early fall. So then that'll kind of be the I guess sort of US availability debut of it. Um but no, it was a great conversation with Tim. Um I'm I'm really excited to see what their PCR is gonna be able to do moving forward, and uh he offered a lot of great insight into what this new piece of equipment is gonna do for the industry.

SPEAKER_08 48:05

Well, that'll be on episode 63. We'll drop that here in another couple of weeks in the month of March. And and thanks to Tim Wolfe for getting together with you, Jack. Tim's a great guy. Thank you, Tim. Well, before we get out of here, we want to give one final shout out to our show sponsor.

SPEAKER_07 48:19

Before we go, just want to thank Philippi Hagenbaugh one more time for being our show sponsor. For more than fifty-seven years, Philippi Hagenbaugh has helped the world's aggregates industry move material safer, smarter, and more efficiently. From its auto gate tailgates and sideboards to its high volume water tanks, Phil designs solutions that work where failure isn't an option in quarries, construction, and heavy-duty job sites around the world. Born and bred in Peoria, Illinois, USA. To learn more, visit PhilSystems.com or call 309-697-9200. That's P-H-I-L-S-Y-S-T-E-M-S dot com. Or call 309-697-9200. Thank you again to Philippi Hagenbaugh for being our show sponsor.

SPEAKER_08 49:10

Well, thanks again to Philippi Hagenbaugh for sponsoring this episode. Jack, again, we made it through or just about. Show's almost over, but but uh certainly reinvigorated to uh to go on, carry on in the months ahead here for Pitt and Quarry, and a lot uh to be excited about and and follow up on in the months to come.

SPEAKER_07 49:26

Absolutely. A lot of a lot of great momentum coming off this show, and let's hope it let's hope it continues to carry through. Well, thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time, everybody. See ya.