Look back at CONEXPO 2020 with Manitowoc Cranes

CONEXPO 2020 is in the books, so we look back, thanks to Manitowoc, at the cranes, the companies and the people that made this year’s tradeshow such an exciting event.

Las Vegas was the center of the lifting world for one week in March. More specifically — Manitowoc booth at CONEXPO was the most exciting place to be for any company that considers cranes to be an essential tool to the progress of civilization.

Historically, CONEXPO has been a marquee event for Manitowoc and their strong crane brands. This year’s edition of the show was no exception. Manitowoc introduced six new cranes to the industry, and four others made their North American debuts. In all they had 10 cranes on display, and you can read a roundup of those new cranes here. Manitowoc also launched the Potain MDT 569 during CONEXPO 2020, and while this crane wasn’t at the booth, you will soon be able to check it out in person when units begin shipping in 2020.

For a real change of pace, they launched one crane “virtually”: the Grove GMK6400-1. Guests at Manitowoc’s pavilion were able to examine this crane in full 360° through custom virtual reality goggles. You can spot the VR set up in this video wrap-up of the first day of CONEXPO.

The pace of their new crane launches is a direct result of the improved product development cycle under The Manitowoc Way. If you’ll recall, it was only a year ago that Manitowoc launched six new cranes at bauma 2019 — that’s 14 new cranes in 12 months!

By increasing innovation and velocity through all aspects of the business, the’re able to design, engineer and produce new cranes faster than ever before. Most importantly, these are cranes with the features and technology that customers want and need — they are the tools lifting companies need to grow their own businesses.

Manitowoc says “We’re happy to say that many of these companies came to visit our booth during CONEXPO. It was a family reunion of sorts for the industry, with our customers and dealers stopping by to celebrate new purchases, commemorate successful partnerships and in some cases, receive awards from Manitowoc for their blockbuster growth. We want to thank everyone that spent this time with us. We were able to pop champagne with many of you, adding a bit of fun to the serious business of CONEXPO.”

Speaking of fun, inside the booth, they had a full-fledged crane simulator, where guests could try out their CCS Crane Control System, operating either a virtual Manitowoc crawler crane or Grove rough-terrain crane. It was a great example of how operators can learn CCS for one type of crane and then take that knowledge and productivity over to operate another crane.

We now have CCS across Manitowoc, Grove, Potain and National Crane models, which really cuts down on training for operators while maximizing fleet efficiency. It was also a lot of fun for people to try out their operating skills in a low-stakes scenario.

CONEXPO 2020 provided Manitowoc a great opportunity to show off technologies like CCS, but it was also a chance to hear a direct input on the designs and functionality you want in future cranes.

Manitowoc ends “So many of our cranes already provide best-in-class performance, capability and efficiency, but that doesn’t mean there will be a slowdown of The Manitowoc Way anytime soon. We already have our sights on CONEXPO 2023 … THE REVOLUTION IS REAL!”