International Construction's International Rental Exhibition (IRE) preview

IRE will be compact equipment heaven for rental company buyers, with over 70 companies exhibiting skid steers, mini excavators, gensets, lighting towers, power tools, compressors, heating/cooling equipment and surface preparation equipment.
Add to that over a dozen suppliers of specialist rental software or IT systems, and the presence of big name suppliers - including JCB, Manitou, Volvo, Atlas Copco, Yanmar, Hilti, Haulotte, Terex and Wacker Neuson - and you have the recipe for the perfect event for rental companies.
Many of the exhibitors in Amsterdam will be showing new or very recently introduced equipment - often machines that have been designed with the specific needs of the rental market in mind. Check www.khl.com/rental regularly as new launches are announced in the run-up to the show, but companies have already given an indication of what they will focus on at IRE.
For example, Atlas Copco will launch a new range of BG walk-behind power trowels, alongside a selection of its light compaction, hydraulic tools, compressors, gensets and pumps.
Sweden's El-Björn will showcase its new E3 (energy efficiency) system, which, using wireless technology and via an Internet web browser, measures, controls and monitors construction site energy consumption. Linked to its existing temporary site power distribution boards, the system will allow rental companies to promote power savings and energy efficiency with clients.
Italy's Hinowa has added hi-speed versions of its HS1100 and HS1150 mini-dumpers. The Hi-Speed versions are equipped with a totally hydraulic system, with double displacement reduction gear drives and the Hinowa Auto2Speed system, which boosts maximum travel speed from 4 km/h to 6/km/h.
Italian power and lighting specialist Tecnogen will show its new HT PK 10/4 SX lighting tower, a 9 m hydraulic tower with four 1000 W metal halide lamps, which it says will light an area of 4000 m2.
Exhibiting a range of new power tools and surveying equipment is European giant Hilti. Key products on show will be the TE 700-AVR, a new breaker designed for interior renovation work, and the POS 15 and POS 18 total stations and the POT 10 theodolite.
Ensuring that world class aerial platforms are on show in Amsterdam is Haulotte Group, which will showcase several of its latest aerials, including the compact HA 12 CJ+ articulating boom, the Compact 14, a 14 m electric scissor that is just 1.2 m wide and the 10 m electric vertical mast machine, the Star 10.
Ditch Witch will show two of its compact machines, the walk-behind RT12 trencher and the SK650 compact tool carrier.
Netherlands supplier ALMI will exhibit its AL43SH21, a battery driven block splitter for cutting natural stone such as cobblestones, thick slabs and clinkers. Unlike with saws, there is no physical effort for the operator, no noise, no water needed and, most important, no quartz dust.
There will be many more innovations at the IRE - for example Terex Construction has just introduced a new range of skid steer loaders and compact tracked loaders. Full details of the equipment being shown by all the exhibitors will be given in the full IRE Show Guide in the May issue of iC's sister magazine, International Rental News (IRN).
In the meantime, make sure you register online at
www.IREshow.com to attend the show - that guarantees free entry to the exhibition.iC