MAXPO 2022, an exhibition that took place in Finland from 5 to 7 May, gathered almost 15,000 visitors and over 260 exhibitors in the land construction industry. With its wide range of spare and wear parts for crushing and screening equipment, Element had one of the busiest stands. The staff that presented Element’s products at the stand shared their thoughts regarding the outcome of their meetings with customers.

A large number of Element’s current customers visiting us at the stand were interested in discussing upcoming projects, the possibility of cooperation in the future and the placement of new orders.

“MAXPO is the largest get-together within the land construction industry in Finland. After the last couple of years, which didn’t see any such gatherings in Finland, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome. We’ve been working closely with our customers to ensure that Element has the highest possible local product availability with regards to spare and wear parts. At the same time, we believe that our customers value Element’s quality to price ratio as it allows for the optimization of their operating expenses”, Marko Salmela, CEO of Element, noted.

There was an influx of customers on the second and third days of the expo. On Friday and Saturday, guests were relaxed and joyfully used the chance to talk informally with our team over a cool beverage at Element’s drinks station at the stand. This industrial fair, like many others, was related to construction and mining equipment; it had a noticeably informal atmosphere. We met and discussed with our current customers not just work, but how life is going generally; we’re in close contact all the time.

Throughout friendly chats with colleagues from the industry, we concluded several new deals that will cover customers’ part consumption needs for 3, 6, or 12 months for one machine. The high demand for Element’s liners and spare parts for crushers was stimulated by special prices for expo visitors. Customers had a chance to acquire THOR jaw plates, top bearings, protection bushings, and other items stocked at Element’s warehouse in Tampere with a significant discount. The impact of such a promotion went beyond the team’s expectations.

“I’ve been working in the industry for 30 years, and this is the first time that during an exhibition we received so many orders. 60-70% of requests were related to wear parts, the rest including spare and emergency parts for crushing equipment, such as top bushings and bearings”, explained Juha Hautalaht, the managing director at Element in the Nordics.

Meanwhile, Pietari Virta, a sales manager at Element, participated in MAXPO for the first time. He noted that his first Finnish exhibition showed that he had built strong relationships with customers, as all the guests at the stand were acquainted with Element’s team.

According to Hautalahti, nowadays, construction companies are cost-conscious. At the same time, they consider not only the price for an item but also the cost of its ownership, per ton of processed stone.

“Prices increased, so a search for ways to save money is the main trend in the industry.

Additionally, we witnessed that in the market there is a demand for engineering to order. After the expo, we’ll raise our technical capacity and human resources to implement individual solutions, helping customers to optimize their production processes”, he said.

These three days at the expo rewarded Element’s team for its activeness with customers over the last few years. “We’ve built good relationships with our customers, so our stand was full to the brim with visitors every day. We’re glad that they’ve been satisfied with our products in terms of quality and price”, added Matti Vikman, another sales manager at Element.