Hillhead is the UKs largest exhibition of quarrying, construction and recycling equipment and this year hosted a record 627 exhibitors, of which Lancereal was pleased to be a part of, and welcomed thousands of industry professionals. Laura Hampson, Managing Director – Sales and Business Development, at Lancereal reflects on the company’s first experience of exhibiting at this monumental show.
I think we picked a great year to have our first time exhibiting at the show as the sheer volume of exhibitors and visitors was a clear sign of the continued confidence across the quarrying, construction and recycling sectors. And whilst there were plenty of impressive machine launches, what really stood out across the show is how the industry is evolving with smarter machines, productivity through automation, a continued focus on reducing total cost of ownership and of course electrification.
Electrification was certainly visible, particularly in the more compact equipment, but it was only one part of a much wider trend towards innovations that reduce operating costs, lower maintenance costs, increase production output and extend machine life.
There was a big focus on the following:
- Intelligent machine control and telematics integration – there were a number of examples on show demonstrating how digital telematics and automated machine controls can be incorporated into heavy plant to provide diagnostics, asset utilisation and efficiency data as well as safety metrics. All of which feed straight into dashboards in the cloud and on mobile apps.
- Autonomous operating functions – it was impressive to watch so many of the live shows featuring demonstrations of automated heavy machinery and even beyond earthmoving equipment how automated systems are providing labour-saving packing technology.
- Advanced hydraulic efficiency – which is designed for demanding quarrying applications and can deliver improved fuel efficiency and productivity.
- Condition monitoring – exhibitors showcased a multitude of real-time equipment tracking for vibrations, temperature, speed, oil and fuel which when correctly monitored can prevent unexpected machinery failures. Saving companies valuable time and money and extending the life of machinery.
- Improved material processing technologies – were well presented by a number of companies demonstrating crusher buckets, shafts, screening attachments for on-site material processing applications as well as mobile crushers.
From this, it’s clear that the digitalisation of machines is now standard practice with telematics, machine health monitoring, predictive maintenance and remote diagnostics featuring heavily across the show. Even digital controls, CAN communication and diagnostics are becoming expected features on new machines, even outside the premium end of the market.
All of this is driving OEMs to look for engineering partners to help reduce development time and provide systems rather than just components. And as mechanical and electrical systems are more tightly integrated it’s creating a demand for suppliers like us, that understand the complete powertrain.
A well-attended event
Exhibiting at Hillhead, in its 44th year provided us with the opportunity to meet with some of our key suppliers such as Allison, Parker-Curtis and OCR. As well as some of our current customers, one of which was JCB engineers. We have supported the team on electrification projects and they are keen to learn more about our offering which is exciting.
We also received attention from companies manufacturing smaller tracked equipment who are interested in electric planetary drive solutions. And there was lots of interest in the range of digital displays that we have to offer for equipment.
In addition, as conveyors are everywhere on quarrying and recycling equipment, we had a number of discussions on electric drives, parallel shaft heavy duty gearboxes and shaft mounted drives for increased efficiency in conveying.
It was nice to see so many engineers attend the event who were obviously keen to see new developments in the market and speak directly to suppliers. We had the pleasure to meet a range of professionals across the three days including large OEMs, smaller machine manufacturers and engineering consultants. I think the weather certainly helped with attendance but by mid-afternoon most people were frazzled and ready to get back into an air-conditioned car!
So, the key takeaway from Hillhead 2026 is that electrification is growing steadily, particularly for compact and specialist equipment, but is one element of a broader trend towards more efficient, connected and intelligent machines. Oh, and the team got an appreciation of what it is like to work in the dusty and exposed conditions of a quarry!