Intermat 2009

Quality rather than quantity seemed to be the consensus regarding visitors at this year’s Intermat. For obvious reasons outside the organisers’ control, attendances seemed well below the previous show, although the component manufacturers still enjoyed some beneficial meetings – unlike the vehicle manufacturers, most of their target audience was already attending the event.

So companies such as Caterpillar, Cummins, Deutz, John Deere, Perkins and Scania received plenty of interest in their latest systems for meeting Tier 4i requirements – more details of which can be seen in the forthcoming iVT Off-Highway Annual.

Other notable exhibits included Dana’s TE-15HX electric parallel hybrid transmission solution, drawing on a Danaher motor/generator to supply supercapacitors. Primarily aimed at wheeled loaders, it recoups braking energy, which can then be used to power low-energy operations such as inching.

As for the vehicle manufacturers, Case is the latest convert to hybrid technology, with the Sumitomo-developed CX210B materials handling excavator on show. Its electric slew motor produces energy that can be stored in supercaps, promising 20% fuel savings over the conventional model – due in no small part to the magnet attachment no longer needing to be driven hydraulically. If, as Case president Jim McCullough suggested, the downturn has bottomed out in the US, this could be one to look out for, along with Mecalac’s 12MTX Hybride featured in our Feb/Mar edition – as long as they don’t follow the apparent trend for hybrid launches to remain ‘in development’ for years to come, anyway…

Volvo CE’s innovative paver concept also received notable attention – an explanatory animation can be seen here. 

It was noticeable that many OEMs had a smaller presence than usual, whether in terms of square metres or personnel, although their Chinese counterparts were on hand to pick up the baton, with some impressive displays from Sany, Sunward (displaying an innovative compact excavator/loading shovel design) and Liugong in particular.

Unfortunately for readers of the show preview in our last issue, two of our ‘ones to watch’ would have called for superhero vision, with the launch of Caterpillar’s innovative wheeled loader powertrain now delayed for a year, and New Holland’s methane-powered wheeled loader unfortunately nowhere to be seen.

The show also proved a major source of quite possibly scurrilous rumours, with – in no particular order – CNH, JCB and Volvo being linked to – in no particular order – mergers and acquisitions. We’ll see whether any of this was more than unsubstantiated gossip at next year’s Bauma…

More images from Intermat

* Click on a thumbnail below to view a larger image.