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COMMENT
It is, so the song goes, the most wonderful time of the year. For me personally it has been a time of travel: Bauma Munich, Trimble Dimensions in Las Vegas, followed by the Bentley Systems year in infrastructure event in London. It was apt that the Bentley event was in London, as my travel felt a bit like London buses: you wait ages for one, then three turn up at once.
Bauma Munich had fewer attendees than the last time it was held but it was still a very busy show and everyone that I talked to only had positive things to say about the event. As expected, sustainability – specifically alterative powered equipment – was one of the main themes of the show.
I spoke to lots of different people and companies at the event, but I’d like to thank the many companies that gave me time with their senior management. You’ll be able to read content from these interviews in future issues, including two in this issue – Robert Hauser, CEO of Doka and Soeren Brogaard, CEO of Trackunit, on pages 26-27 and 38-39.
There’s no doubt that the industry faces – and will continue to face – serious challenges. Inflation is high in many countries around the world, workers aren’t getting any easier to find and supply chain shortages are all too common. These issues came up repeatedly when speaking to people on my travels. In this issue we have a feature focusing on supply chains and what some companies are doing to try and mitigate delays.
It has been a challenging year for the industry but, once again, construction has shown its resilience. Despite all the headwinds against it, sales for OEMs have been good and many contractors have more work than they can manage. From a personal point of view, writing about how the industry is adapting to become more sustainable and is advancing its construction technology path have been particular highlights. I wish you a happy and relaxing holiday period.