World of Concrete kicked off 2014 and celebrated its 40 years with over 48,000 attendees and 1,250 exhibitors, setting a positive tone for the trade show season ahead.
The show opened Tues. Jan 21 with former Las Vegas Mayor (1999 to 2011) and Host Committee Chairman, Oscar Goodman—signature martini in-hand and two Vegas showgirls by his side—thanking World of Concrete for making Las Vegas its “permanent home,” and congratulating the show on its big anniversary.
Participating for the ninth consecutive year in the International Buyer Program, the 2014 show saw more than 18 delegations and 114 ShowTime meetings between U.S. manufacturers and international delegation leaders during the week. The U.S. Department of Commerce has already selected World of Concrete for the program in 2015.
The Scaffold & Access Industry Association (SAIA) was well represented this year, both from an exhibitor and attendee standpoint. Before hitting the exhibit spaces on Tuesday, members of the Association gathered Monday evening for a reception held in a top-floor suite of the MGM with indoor and outdoor spaces that allowed attendees the opportunity to enjoy the Vegas climate and its skyline while catching up and networking.
One of World of Concrete’s signature characteristics is its outdoor exhibits and demonstrations, one of which is the SAIA’s popular Safety Boot Camp. The Safety Boot Camp began as the Scaffold Safety Experience in 2011 and evolved into the three-day Boot Camp it is today. This year Bee Access and EZ Scaffold sponsored and provided equipment for the event that has attendees visit eight stations, identifying common mistakes and OSHA citations when using scaffold and access equipment as well as personal fall protection equipment.
“We had great foot traffic at the event this year, including two OSHA groups,” said Granville Loar, SAIA director of education and training. “The Boot Camp really just continues to grow in popularity and what’s encouraging to see is the past participants that come back with their customers. We could not do this without our sponsors, so a huge thanks to them for their support.”
Another big draw for the show is its Spec Mix Bricklayer 500 competition. Among the sponsors of the event were Hydro Mobile, a Platinum sponsor and Beta Max Hoist, a Gold sponsor. The event which took place in the Gold Lot as part of the WOC's Masonry Madness event, featured two Hydro Mobile P Series mast climbers at its entrance. Additionally and acting as somewhat of a landmark of the Bricklayer event, were two Hydro Mobile M2 Series climbers, featuring a Beta Max electric hoist on each. Kevin O'Shea, Hydro Mobile's new director of safety and training, set up the display that was topped off with a big red truck sitting on the climbers, making the display surely one, if not the focal point of the outdoor set-ups.
Among the SAIA members with new products on display inside the trade show halls was Sky Climber that showcased its new LNX man-rated electric hoist, with fewer wear parts and solid construction making it suitable for a variety of jobsite applications. Across the aisle, Reechcraft highlighted its new PowerMast system with a 1,500-lb. load rating and maximum working height of 200-ft that’s niche is light-duty applications.
Winsafe brought its new walk through C-Stirrup for suspended stages that comes fully assembled, going folded to flat in less than a minute. Strong Man Building Products displayed its new VaporBlock vapor retarder/barrier products that meet the necessary requirements to be utilized in contact with soil or granular fill under concrete slabs. Avontus Software demonstrated its new Handset Designer 2013 that creates formwork drawings, bill-of-materials, and estimates projects, and Metaltech-Omega brought its new elevator side bracket that it launched at the SAIA Convention in July 2013.
Additionally, Next Generation Scaffold Services had on display at the Stepup Scaffold booth its new Safe-Rite safety frame which is a hybrid design of a ring-lock scaffold system and a standard frame scaffold.
The 2015 World of Concrete will be: February 2 - 6, 2015 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
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