Hillhead 2012 took place from 19-21 June at Tarmac’s Hillhead Quarry, near Buxton, in Derbyshire. In total, 17,083 visitors attended Hillhead 2012, compared with 15,558 in 2010, and throughout the three days of the show they were able to see more equipment and more live demonstrations and than ever before, presented by a record 459 exhibitors.
All sectors of the mineral products and construction industries, including quarrying, mining, recycling, concrete, asphalt and materials handling, were brought together. Sandvik had almmost 3,000 visitors coming to their stand during the three show days. Hugh Glandfield, Vice-President UK & Ireland for Sandvik Construction, commented: “Hillhead has always been the perfect opportunity for us to showcase our product lines and meet our customers, but this year we were truly staggered by vast number of potential new customers and general visitors who came to the Sandvik stand.‘We launched three new products this year as well as the latest upgrades from our tracked jaw crusher range, but the real star of the show was the stand itself – it seemed to act like a magnet to visitors to the exhibition.”
Val Ledden, managing director of Volvo Construction Equipment, was equally pleased with the show. He said: ‘Hillhead 2012 offered the opportunity to both strengthen existing partnerships and establish new relationships – and I’m delighted to say we were not disappointed…for us, it’s always extremely energising to receive feedback about our offerings and our industry from the sharp end.” Marubeni-Komatsu were among the ‘big hitters’ making a return following their absence in 2010.
Finning made an eye-catching return with their ‘Trusted by Experts’ stand showcasing the UK’s first new Caterpillar 6030 mining hydraulic excavator to appear in public. The 300 t excavator formed the centrepiece of a new-look stand for Finning, incorporating customer experience zones, seminars, new machines and the official public launch of the ‘Finsight’ monitoring service.
As well as attracting a broad international audience, Hillhead also offers a platform for overseas exhibitors to break into the UK and Ireland markets. Edward Milosevic Pepper, responsible for marketing at Talleres Núñez, Spain’s leading manufacturer of screen media for the quarrying and mining industries, reported a good response from UK visitors at this year’s show: “As a
first-time exhibitor, the number and quality of visitors to our stand has been excellentUnlike Bauma and Intermat, Hillhead represents specific industry sectors and this has helped us to make direct contact with potential new customers from the UK mineral products industry.”
Summing up Hillhead 2012, Event Director Jack Berridge said: “Despite the challenges facing the construction supply chain in the UK, the show was over 10% bigger than two years ago and once again we have managed to get through without any significant personal injuries, which means we have now gone 13 years without a reportable incident at the show.”