On Nov. 5, 2021, Hoffman Equipment didn't want to host just any open house. After all, it had been more than a year since the dealer's last event because of COVID-19, so it wanted to go big and bold now that it had an opportunity to bring customers back together again.
On a nice sunny day in Piscataway, N.J., the dealer presented its event, which some customers referred to as a "Mini ConExpo." Hoffman's open house showcased a wide variety of new products, including the latest from Manitowoc, Volvo electric equipment and much more.
"Manitowoc and Volvo have both just introduced some new products that I like to call ‘evolutionary,'" said Tim Watters, president of Hoffman Equipment. "We felt an open house would be the best way to get the news out about these machines and what they offer and why we think the market will appreciate the features they bring."
Contractors from all around New Jersey and the metro New York area packed the dealer's Piscataway headquarters to not only check out the new product offerings by Manitowoc and Volvo, but also Hoffman's other product lines, including JCB, Astec, Bergmann, NPK and more.
"Nobody else offers fully electric machines like Volvo does," Watters said, referring to two of the main stars of the show, the ECR25 mini-excavator and the L25 wheel loader. "Many are making prototypes, but the machines are available for sale today if you want to take one home with you. We just had one of them on demonstration with the New York Department of Sanitation, and that went really well. There is a lot of activity and interest around those two machines. We think they are going to draw people in here."
Manitowoc also was front and center during the open house with its new MLC150-1 lattice boom crawler crane.
"The MLC150-1 replaces what had been the hole in the Manitowoc line for many years," said Watters. "The machine that preceded it was a triple 5 and they stopped building that about eight years ago. The MLC150-1 is a 165-ton crawler crane and has all of the features and benefits of the new MLC line, except the moving counterweight. What that means is that it is extremely easy to assemble, disassemble and travel with. The crane is a great size for contractors — it's a perfect contractor machine."
Adjacent to the MLC150-1 was the Manitowoc MLC100-1 lattice boom crawler crane.
"That's another machine, while it has been out for three years, it is still relatively new and we have sold some, but it's still new enough that people will have an interest to come here and see it," said Watters.
In addition to the two Manitowoc cranes were Grove GMK5250, GMK3050 and GMK6350 all-terrain cranes.
"The GMK5250 is a five-axle machine with 250-ton capacity," said Watters. "We have the 3050 long-boom, which is a three-axle machine with 60-ton capacity. We also have a 6350 long-boom machine, which is a 350-ton machine with six axles."
JCB, not to be outdone by the towering cranes, had a prominent display during the open house.
"JCB has the only skid steer tractor loader backhoe available in the world," said Watters. "It's a loader backhoe. You have a bucket in front and backhoe in the back, but on a skid steer carrier. Nobody else has that."
Hoffman Equipment also is an Astec dealer and showcased one of the manufacturer's newest machines — the FT2650 jaw crusher.
The open house was the first in person event Hoffman Equipment held after the grand reopening of the country following the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020 and early 2021 and Watters was grateful to not only bring customers out to see equipment at its facility again, but also to simply to see them again and in such large numbers.
"We appreciate all of our customers and we appreciate them coming out," he said. "We want to thank them for being here and for all their support. This our coming out party since COVID." CEG
(All photographs in this article are Copyright 2021 Construction Equipment Guide. All Rights Reserved.)
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