Spirit 38 - Volvo Construction Equipment

“The European market is not gone, but it was formally
acknowledged that the big opportunities at this moment in history
exist elsewhere,” says Marie-Hélène Dumail at Volvo, Director,
Business Intelligence. “Although what was said was not original
or surprising, it was the first time that the industry officially
acknowledged what has been said in private for a few years,
namely that Asia is the world’s main market now.”
What is CECE?
The two-yearly get-together of the Committee of
European Construction Equipment (CECE) was billed as ‘2020
Vision’, focusing the minds of the delegates on the trends that will
define the industry in 10 years’ time and looking at how European
manufacturers can position themselves in global markets.
“Up til now, the focus has been on trying to remain
Euro-centric, getting the EU to support the European market and
manufacturers and suppliers operating there,” Dumail adds. “At
this meeting, no-one was saying ‘let’s forget about Europe now’
but the big message that came through loud and clear was that if
you don’t have some foothold in Asia already then it’s high time
that you do. If Asia is where the markets are, then that’s where
the industry must head to.”
Pragmatic approach
The construction equipment industry is certainly a very
different world to the one that existed when the CECE met for
its congress in York, England in October 2008. That took place
a few weeks after the collapse of US investment bank Lehmann
Brothers, ushering in the most severe economic crisis in living
memory.
“In York we all realized that the good times were
over but nobody foresaw it was going to be as tough as it turned
out to be. A lot of faces who were at that congress were not
here in Barcelona, but the very positive and heartening fact was
that all the companies were still represented. The mood at the
conference was neither optimistic nor pessimistic. It was realistic
and pragmatic.”
Once it was established that Asia and Latin America
are offering more growth potential and they were also becoming
regions of significant demand, the congress turned to the question:
how can Europeans exploit these opportunities?
High Quality
It was agreed that new strategies are needed to take
on board the fact that developing markets may need different
products to those sold in Europe. However, there was strong
consensus that it was essential for manufacturers to maintain
quality.
“Europe is renowned for state-of-the-art technology,
very high quality products created with very high engineering skills
Marie-Hélène Dumail, Director, Business Intelligence at Volvo
CECE represents and promotes Europe’s construction
equipment manufacturers and related industries,
co-coordinating the views of national associations
by influencing institutions at a European, national
and international level in order to achieve a fair,
competitive environment through harmonized
standards and regulations.
CECE monitors upcoming European legislation, forms
an industry position on the relevant subjects and
actively communicates the view of the industry to the
European legislators. In the opposite direction CECE
initiates legislation and other processes to harmonize
the European markets and enable fair competition.
The promotion of international standards and safety
regulations in co-operation with ISO (International
Organization for Standardization) and CEN (European
Committee for Standardization) is a major task for
CECE, as well as the development of test procedures
and nomenclatures.
CECE market data has become the leading indicator for
the development of European construction equipment
markets. Together with the sister associations from
Japan, Korea and North America, CECE participates in
the governance of worldwide statistical exchange for
earthmoving machinery and other types of construction
equipment. CECE regularly informs its members and
the interested public about market developments and
the economic situation of the industry.
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