But still the pandemic has not lost its grip. People still get ill but thanks to the vaccination programmes most people infected don’t get that sick anymore and the death rate has gone down. Still we need to proceed with precaution. One can say that international travelling picked up only during May and June this year, with prior to that, travel being mainly domestic. That is mainly speaking for myself, as it saw the first time in over two years that I booked an international business trip again.

I personally believe that we never will come back completely to how we approached global travelling before the pandemic. The pandemic made us understand that actually a lot of meetings can take place digitally. Not all of course, as we also need to meet face to face but, in the future, I believe meetings will occur in a variety of ways. We also have a climate crisis which is not helped by constant global travel. It is each person’s responsibility to do something about it, and amongst others things, less travelling is one way of contributing to lowering pollution.

Today we see several manufacturers that are taking their responsibility to find new and more sustainable machines and systems. Running construction equipment on battery power is a great example and here the development proceeds rapidly. In terms of power cutters, Stihl launched the first battery driven power cutter in 2019. About a year later, Husqvarna launched one as well, and about one year after that, Husqvarna launched a second full size model that runs on batteries. In August, I attended Hilti’s largest ever product launch event in Manchester, England. Hilti launched a completely new smart battery platform called ‘Nuron’ including 70 new machines. (You will find a full write up on the Nuron series in this issue.)

In one month’s time the German mega show bauma is coming up. In this issue, which is the PDi show issue for bauma, you can read about several new products to be launched at the show. You can count on that there will be a number of new battery driven products. You will find also a selected list of exhibitors related to the sectors covered in PDi including demolition, recycling, remediation, hydrodemolition, concrete sawing and drilling, handling of hazardous concrete dust and slurry, concrete floor grinding and polishing, etc.

In general, it is possible to see some effects of the pandemic at the bauma show as the number of exhibitors has decreased a little bit and maybe not as many visitors as usual are expected to attend. That is the expectations, but time will tell. PDi Magazine will as usual exhibit in hall A1 and booth number 136. You are of course very welcome to come and see us there. You will also find this show issue at  our booth and also a special bauma issue that will be distributed right before the show starts and at the show grounds.

On Thursday 27 October IACDS (International Associations of Concrete Drillers and Sawers) will hold its annual meeting at the fairground as well as a networking cocktail party. Also, the IACDS Diamond Award celebration will take place parallel. It is free of charge to attend the networking which will take place in hall B1 and room B11.

Before I finish my column, I also would like to mention two other things. The Nordic demolition show, Demcon, will take place in Stockholm, 24-25 November 2022. Furthermore IDA, Indian Demolition Association, has decided to organise its second annual convention 15-16 September 2023 alongside its trade show, Demtech. The venue will be the White Petals, Ground Palace in Bengaluru. More information about these events can be found in this issue.

See you in Munich!

Jan Hermansson
Editor-in-Chief
jan.hermansson@pdworld.com