Site Clearance cleans up

It has taken only four years to establish SED's Demolition and Recycling Zone as one of the strongest areas of the show. "We don't get huge crowds of visitors here, but those that do visit are usually serious about what they want to examine and talk about," said one exhibitor.

Even exhibitors that normally would not use SED, such as Harry West (Prees), were surprised at the interest. The company is primarily concerned with agriculture, but has used SED for the past two years to showcase its composting machinery.

"We were pleasantly surprised at our first visit last year and this year interest in our composting systems was considerably higher," said sales manager Jonathan Lamb. "We probably talked to more people at The Royal Agricultural Show, but converted fewer people to customers there than we did here. SED was a success story for us."

Anross managing director Rod Leyland was also pleased. "We had a storming SED," he said. "We sold all our Segregator buckets off the stand and many more besides. The serious interest in our kit was fantastic - especially in the 05 model that fits backhoe loaders and mini excavators." Leyland was pleased to see that visitors were still piling onto the site after lunch on Wednesday.

Alex Moss, managing director of Powerscreen (part of Terex), said: "We introduced four new products at SED. There's the Titan 1800 screening plant, capable of a throughput of up to 500t/hr; the Trommel 600, which takes only five minutes to set up; our sand recovery mobile unit, the Fines Master 120; and our washing unit, the Powerscrub 120R.

"We've got several seriously interested parties examining the specifications of all these new models in-depth. That's indicative of the kind of visitor SED attracts."

Strickland had two stands at SED: Strickland Tracks, which displayed its range of complete track systems; and Strickland Direct, with its bucket teeth, cutting edges and concrete pulverisers.

Of particular interest was the latter's new shear, designed for machines up to 30t. The unit can cope easily with reinforced steel bars and girders up to 250mm x 127mm. Also in demand were Strickland's heavy and medium duty grapples, concrete pulverisers that can be mounted direct or through a quickhitch, and a 1.5m shaker bucket.

Managing director Peter Strickland said: "We also supply new (OEM) track running gear to lots of manufacturers. SED proved successful for us this year as it has in the past."

Evan Clarke, managing director of Kleemann UK, told us: "It was an excellent show. We would have liked more visitors to the stand, but those that did come were serious.

"We confirmed an order for the Mobirex MRB102R primary impactor displayed on the stand and the show allowed a lot of potential customers to see the machines rather than just a spec sheet."

LandForce, owned by Duncan Wordsworth, of Wordsworth Holdings, showed three of a range of six new Forester chippers and shredders. All are designed in-house and produced at the plant in Grantham, Lincolnshire, which is also home to Barford Site Dumpers.

LandForce managing director Martin Bell said: "We did SED differently this year, concentrating our efforts on the chipper/shredder range in the Recycling area. We showed 9t and 1t Barford dumpers too, but we were primarily concerned with introducing our recycling products.

"We know from experience that we got fewer enquiries than with a dumper display in the main showground, but those we did get have every indication of being of a more serious nature."

BL-Pegson (also part of Terex) didn't show any newly launched kit this year, but decided to concentrate on machines launched in 2001, such as the 1000 Maxtrak, the Metrotrak and the Premiertrak tracked mobile recycling crushers.

Area sales manager Paul Parry said: "We've had great success since we launched these products. At SED 2002 we talked to quality people that we haven't contacted using conventional means. There was a lot of serious interest."

Erin Systems used SED to introduce its Fingerscreener 125T. This compact mobile screening unit was designed to be used in waste transfer stations where space is often at a premium. Managing director Ciaran Ryan said: "A guy walked onto the stand and bought the display Fingerscreener 125. That's a unique experience for us."

The company also displayed its new Starscreener 200A - its first Starscreener to offer both wheeled and tracked options.

The show was also the launch pad for Doppstadt UK's DZ750 Kombi, a powerful (450kW) two-in-one shredder, and the DU265 Panda windrow turner. The DU265 can form one- or two-row windrows for faster drying.

During the show, Doppstadt's John Dodds said that SED had been a qualified success with fewer visitors than he'd like (despite record attendance). "In fairness those we are talking to appear to be of high quality. The final proof will come after we've followed up the leads generated here."

Metso Minerals used SED to showcase its Nordberg kit, Dynapac compaction machinery and Rammer hammers. Each brand had new products, including the Nordberg LT95, which was launched in the UK a couple of weeks ago. Its state-of-the-art programmable logic controller confers fast set-up and the possibility of remote control by the loading machine operator. Rammer introduced its steel-cutting interchangeable jaws on the RD18 multi-purpose cutter/ crusher giving it even more versatility.

SED also saw Metso/Dynapac return to the UK road-planing market with three new models. The smallest (PL350S) has a 350mm cutting width. It weighs in at just 4.3t, making it ideal for path and pavement work. The PL2000S and PL2100S offer widths of 2m and 2.1m respectively, along with all-up weight of 36t.

Dynapac also launched three four-stroke (two petrol, one diesel) rammers. Metso's Alan Matchett said: "SED was the first all-embracing display we've had since the Metso/Svedala merger. We had no knowledge of how it would turn out. It worked well, with each product range seeming to complement the others."

At the show for the first time was Hanson Support Services, which hires industrial-sized wet/dry vacuum equipment. Phil Burgon said: "I'm impressed with the show and the number of visitors. Ask me in a couple of months how it's turned out for business."

SED was used by Extec to introduce its C-10 track-mounted Jaw Crusher and S5 Doublescreen. The C10 has a jaw size of 1m x 650mm and uses the company's Geo-crush technology for high productivity and low wear. The S5's screen is 4.8m x 1.5m and consists of two individual screening units that give a throughput equivalent to that of a conventional screen box of about 7.62m long.