AEM Top Industry Trends for 2023

Data comes from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers(AEM).

The 10 industry trends were broken down into 3 larger categories:

• Environmentally Friendly Transformations

• Technology Transformations of the Industry

• Transformations of the Business

Of the first category, the panel went in-depth into the reality of carbon based fuels, and the increased regulation that is spurring the adoption of many alternative power solutions. BAUMA was a recent significant example cited by one of the panelists, Brian Bieller, when he talked about the sheer number of companies showing off their electric, hydrogen, and other cutting edge machines like compact machines that reduce other forms of pollution, as well.

Renewable energy for construction companies nearly derailed the overall conversation, taking up a considerable amount of time. Ray Gallant did his best to try and assuage attendees vocal objections and concerns about being forced into a paradigm they didn't ask for. While it did get somewhat heated, the general agreement amongst, not just this panel but others during the week, was that these changes and the demands of large scale clientele will eventually require the industry to shift. Better to be ahead of the curve.

In the second category, while the promise of ever more autonomous machinery was brought up, and framed as the inevitable end-goal, most likely. The real star, however, was "data". No, not the beloved android character from Star Trek, but, rather, then increasing amount of available information that can be gathered, sorted, and evaluated to the benefit of its owner. Kevin Garcia discussed in detail how important, and lucrative data will be. Rich sets of real time diagnostics and tracking, and the technology/sensors that will make the data more accessible to us.

In the last, and largest, category--housing the final 4 individual trends--the transformation of business covered some of the most prevalent plot lines from this past year, as well. It was said that 41% of the construction workforce will retire by 2031, and that there are simply more people leaving the industry that there are coming into it. It's going to not only change the makeup of our labor groups, but, also, the nature of their skillsets.