All the statistics may show that the Japanese domestic market for construction equipment has taken a strong turn for the worse in the past couple of years, but there is no escaping that even a bad Japan remains a very interesting construction market, in terms of both volume and technological development.
It is also home to the International Exhibition for Construction Equipment & Technology, more familiarly known as Conet, and billed as Asia’s biggest exhibition of construction equipment and related technologies. The 37th exhibition, Conet 99, is being held in Tokyo from Wednesday 14 July to Saturday 17 July.
The Japan Construction Mechanisation Association (JCMA), which organises the exhibition, is expecting some 70,000 visitors to the show. As of 1 May there were 143 exhibitors booked to appear, though the JCMA is aiming for a total of 170 by the time Conet 99 opens its doors. Unlike many international shows, admission is free.
Conet was last held in 1996 and this year it has a new and larger venue, the Tokyo Big Sight international exhibition centre on the Daiba waterfront.
Sadly, the most striking feature of the exhibitor list is the significant absentee: Tadano. It is a clear illustration of the state of the market in Japan that the country’s number one mobile crane manufacturer has decided that it is not worth exhibiting at Conet.
Nor is Komatsu showing any cranes, in spite of taking more space than any other exhibitor. Komatsu explains that its policy is to exhibit only new products and it has no new crane product this year. With Tadano traditionally accounting for 40% of the Japanese mobile crane market and Komatsu 10%, the absence of lifting equipment from these two companies means that – in effect – half the mobile crane sector is absent.
Kato and Kobelco are there, however, although the only crane that Kobelco is showing is the 70t-capacity BM 700HD crawler crane, introduced to the Japanese market in November 1998 and described by the manufacturer as “ideally suited for foundation work”.
Rival crawler manufacturers Sumitomo, Hitachi and IHI are also all exhibiting at Conet, while Maeda Seisakusho is showing a couple of new mini-crawlers. First is the 1t-capacity, remote-controlled MC-104CW, the smallest in the range at only 600mm wide, and featuring a pentagonal four-section boom. Second is an improved version of its model MC-355C, which is provisionally named the MC-305C.
Liebherr Japan is showing a Japanese version of its 100t-capacity AT crane, the LTM 1100N-2, which has a 52m main boom and a 56m working radius, giving it the longest boom and radius in its class in Japan.
The only other overseas exhibitor in the crane sector is Favelle Favco Cranes (USA), the latest entrant to the crawler crane market whose product was first seen at the Conexpo show in Las Vegas in March. Favelle Favco Cranes (USA) is exhibiting its 28t telescopic boom crawler, the FFC 28T. Company president Daniel Davis says that he plans to avoid the difficulties faced by many importers into Japan by sourcing major components from manufacturers in Japan and assembling the machines in Japan.
On the aerial access side, there is international representation by Genie and UpRight.
Among displays marking the 50th anniversary of the JCMA (and the 50th anniversary of the first Conet, held in 1949) is a Classic Construction Machine Corner, with plant from the past five decades.
