INTERMAT 2024 Adds New Technologies & Energies Hub

INTERMAT 2024 will once again bring together the international construction equipment sector to highlight the latest innovations. This year's event has a particular focus on efforts being made within the industry to lower carbon emissions.

Coinciding with this, show organizers have added a New Technologies & Energies hub to the event to showcase the solutions being implemented which aid with meeting emissions reduction efforts as well as digital solutions.

The New Technologies & Energies hub joins four other hubs into which the show is divided:

Earthmoving, demolition & transportation
Roads, minerals & foundations
Building, Civil Engineering & Concrete Industry including the World of Concrete Europe event, which will showcase the entire value chain in the concrete industry, from upstream to downstream
Lifting & handling.

This organizational structure demonstrates the many areas within the construction industry covered by the event while also helping attendees easily find the equipment and components most important to them.

The construction equipment industry is transitioning to electric powered machines, as demonstrated by OEM Wacker Neuson at the last edition of INTERMAT, enabling not only reduced emissions but also performance and maintenance improvements.

New Hub Demonstrates Construction Industry Trends

According to INTERMAT organizers, the New Technologies & Energies hub will be devoted to showcasing:

equipment that use new, alternative or renewable energy sources (biofuels, electric, hydrogen, etc.),
decarbonisation solutions (electric retrofitting),
virtual and digital engineering (augmented reality, mobile apps, BIM, Internet of Things, 3D printing, drones, etc.)
energy storage solutions and
autonomous vehicles, among others.

The hub will also include a Start-Up Village where presentations and demos will be offered related to low-carbon and digital solutions. Major innovation trends related to these solutions will be highlighted throughout the event as well as their potential impacts on the construction industry.

Over 70 companies will exhibit in the hub, including many in or related to the fluid power and electric motion control industries such as sensors manufacturer Gefran, ifm, Moog Construction, Webasto and SICK.

Autonomous and electric machines will be among those exhibited in the New Technologies & Energies hub at INTERMAT.

Two Moog Construction technologies, ZQuip and TerraTech, are nominated for INTERMAT Innovation Awards in the Low Carbon & Energy Transition category. Each is designed to aid the transition to electrification in the construction equipment industry by providig the necessary components for electrifying machines. ZQuip is a plug-and-play platform for converting diesel machines to electric while TerraTech provides a fully integrated system to help OEMs speed up development of electric-powered machines.

The New Technologies & Energies hub helps demonstrate the massive technological evolution taking place in the construction equipment industry — as well as the entire heavy mobile machinery sector. Electrification in particular has picked up steam in recent years as efforts to reduce carbon emissions have increased and technology has reached a point at which it is feasible to use in some heavy machinery applications.

Learn More About the Industry Trends Impacting Construction Equipment and Fluid Power

The trends of electrification, automation and digitalization which are impacting the construction equipment and other heavy machinery sectors. They are of course also having an effect on hydraulics and pneumatics as heavy equipment is a key customer market for fluid power.

Read more about how specifically these trends are influencing hydraulic and pneumatic designs:

The Impacts of Electrification on Fluid Power Systems

System-Level Analysis Key for Transition to Electrification

The 5 Levels of Autonomy in Off-Highway Equipment

Understanding Digitalization and its Use in Fluid Power

IFPE White Paper Outlines Efficiency Benefits of Digitalization & Electrification for Fluid Power

This is of course impacting hydraulic and pneumatic components used within these machines, necessitating manufacturers to rethink component and system designs to meet requirements for improved efficiency, among others. Many fluid power suppliers have also begun developing their own solutions for electric machines, bringing their expertise to the market.

Automation and digitalization are also have an effect on equipment designs, and thus the fluid power systems used within them. Greater incorporation of sensors is helping to provide the precision needed for autonomous functions as well as offering the ability to collect performance data for improved maintenance and more.

All of these technology trends have one goal in mind — helping improve the productivity of those working in the construction industry. Doing so helps them to get more work done in a shorter period of time and with less skilled labor available.

INTERMAT's new hub will offer attendess the chance to see new technologies coming into the market and how they can benefit their business.

Demo Zone to Showcase Decarbonization of Construction Equipment

Another key part of INTERMAT 2024 will be its Demo Zone, an outdoor area dedicated to equipment demonstrations. The latest machine designs will be put to work in real-life operating conditions so attendees can see first hand how the equipment performs.

Many machines set to be showcased will also be hybrid or electric powered to help demonstrate their capabilities. Safety and digital solutions will also be highlighted in the Demo Zone, offering a range of advanced technologies to be tested out.

Merlo is one of the OEMs planning to show an electric machine, its EW25.5-90, with the goal of demonstrating the battery interchangeability possible and advantages possible in improving operating costs with an electric machine.