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Big Board backdrop befits Oshkosh milestone

Concrete News
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The New York Stock Exchange opened prime exterior and trading floor space last month to Oshkosh Corp., which is marking its centennial anniversary in specialty truck, vehicle and component manufacturing.
Wilson Jones PHOTO: New York Stock Exchange

“As we celebrate 100 Years Strong, we’re honored to ring the closing bell on the world’s most famous trading platform, the New York Stock Exchange,” said Oshkosh CEO Wilson Jones. “We’re proud and humble that our company truly makes a difference in people’s lives; building on a foundation that began 100 years ago.”

Oshkosh was founded in May 1917, by William Besserdich and B.A. Mosling, who developed two key innovations to help improve vehicle mobility over difficult roads and gave people the courage and confidence to drive to places they didn’t think were possible. Their first patent covered a front-to-rear axle power transfer case; the second improved front axle steering and drive capacity.

MIXED MARKET SIGNALS HOVER BUILDING MATERIAL PLANTS DAY

German manufacturers of concrete and other building material plants are expecting a broadly based boost this year, carrying momentum from a year-over-year spike most sectors saw at the end of 2016. “This should translate into sales growth over the next few months,” said Sebastian Popp, economic expert on machinery and equipment at Building Material Plants Day, an annual German Engineering Federation (VDMA) gathering in Frankfurt for companies serving concrete, dry mortar, aggregate, cement, lime and gypsum producers.

After several years of decline without any real impetus, German manufacturers recorded 8 percent and 20 percent increases in 2016 sales and orders compared with the previous year, totaling $5.1 billion. The United States continues to be the biggest market for building material machines from Germany, followed by China and Russia. Although last year’s figures were somewhat skewed by larger orders, VDMA notes that the industry is optimistic about 2017. Europe’s construction industry, led by Germany and U.K., should develop robustly, growing by an estimated 2 percent. Good market opportunities are also discernible in the United States and some emerging economies.

VDMA Concrete Technology Section members report mixed signals from markets across the world. In 2016, they logged good business in Germany but saw a sharp decline in orders elsewhere. “In 2016 we more or less lived on the money we’d earned in 2015,” noted Section Chairman Hermann Weckenmann. During the first four months of 2017, however, the order situation has improved on the strength of business in Europe and the United States.

Building material plant equipment manufacturers lack confidence in any medium or long-term stable, positive development, owing to what VDMA members see as a “general global framework not what it should be.” Developments and business are less predictable than they were a few years ago, and manufacturers are concerned about the current trend for nation states to withdraw to their own spheres, raising the prospect of new trade barriers and sealed-off markets. Manufacturers see the market potential for concrete technology as considerable, but too few producers willing to invest in capital equipment.