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Concrete Polishing Magazine is pleased to announce the results of the Industry’s first Concrete Polishing Rodeo© held Saturday, Jan 22 - Sunday, Jan 23, 2011.
CPM’s Concrete Polishing Rodeo© was a tremendous success thanks to the participation of the leading Grinding Equipment manufacturers in our industry. The editorial team at CPm has been talking to manufacturers since WOC Jan 2010 about putting the Rodeo together. We taped interviews with a wide range of manufacturers asking if they would participate in such an opportunity. We emailed, mailed and promoted the event over the last several months and received confirmations from many companies that they would sign up for the event. Unfortunately for whatever reason, some companies opted out, (some that had told us they would come, decided they couldn’t or wouldn’t). However, as is obvious, we did get the support of a key group of companies and we salute all of our event participants for their willingness to step up to an open (and published) challenge to help define the criteria that will determine future sales and product development in concrete polishing. The Rodeo is a first of its kind event. The test exercises were designed and developed by CPm’s staff with the assistance of an independent panel of judges comprised of seasoned concrete polishing contractors and input from manufacturers directly. Aztec, CMW, Husqvarna, SuperAbrasive/Lavina, Terrco and WerkMaster all stepped up for the opportunity to help establish industry performance baselines that will help with application and purchase decisions and will act as a guide for the development of future enhancements and modifications to ensure ever-improving end-results for the concrete polishing as an industry. The Rodeo data gives us a unique ability to understand performance characteristics based on a cross-section of core test components establishing benchmark standards for categories such as gloss, edging proximity, maneuverability, project completion times, equipment ease of use, power and tool requirements as well as an assessment of overall look and feel of finished projects. All of the data compiled through the course of the program is based on real world testing and has not been available prior to this landmark event. It speaks volumes to us at CPm that this core group of manufacturers were ready willing and able to engage in the Rodeo© challenge The companies that chose to show up and test head-to-head with all of their piers are the front line for supplying unbiased comprehensive data for consumers and the industry and the amazing thing is that all machines tested did extremely well. We tested three groups of machines and came up with the following group winners. In the mid-size Electric 25” Class: Terrco 2000 took the overall honors as Best of Class. Though as you review the individual test results you will note we had great application performances from WerkMaster in edging and maneuverability, Lavina, in ease of tool change and gloss ratings and from CMW in dust removal. In the large Electric 30” Class: Husqvarna PG 820 took the Best of Class honors. Again we saw tremendous application category results such as Terrco for speed of job completion (they had the fastest finish in both classes) Lavina for final look gloss and ease of tool changes, WerkMaster for maneuverability, low-noise ratings and Edge Closeness. In the Propane Class: Relative newcomer Aztec Ultragrind took Best of Class honors with a gloss rating highest in show. WerkMaster ran high points in low-noise and maneuverability and produced consistently tight edges. This is a really strong suit for them and an application that may just be the driver for purchase decisions. Terrco once again finished fast and left a clean bright floor. The gear driven technology works flawlessly and the machines Terrco brought to the field were all first rate and run by a very competent team. That is the way you want t demo gear in our book. Terrco and Husqvarna ran at the highest consistent levels of performance and it was down to the judges assessment and the addition of an special Bonus Round test that really made the call for over all Best of Show go in favor of Husqvarna. Unfortunately Lavina didn’t have their new 30”LP product ready for the event. However, we really look forward to putting that through the paces in a coming review as soon as it is available. Based on the performance we saw in Tupelo with the new Low Profile design, we are excited to see the innovations coming from this young and innovative company. The Rodeo© featured New Product and information showcases and demonstrations along with the two days of active field tests. Stain and sealant leader American Decorative Concrete (AmeriPolish) CEO, Les Davis took attendees through a course on tips and techniques for stain application ripping and sealing a pad to home grade luster. Superior Surface Solutions (SSS) provided a hands-on look at its Vortex system. Though not an actual contestant in the Rodeo©, SSS demonstrated a tremendous ability to get a high gloss, well-edged job requiring fewer steps and less labor. Webster had people looking at his test bay with deserved great interest. Ultimately it is the CPm staff opinion that we would be delighted to take any of the machines featured in the Rodeo© to our job site and would be confident of what we would be able to produce and at the end of the day that is what the event was all about. We feel the industry has a place to look now for unbiased performance guidelines. Contractors know what machines match to what applications and what to look for in over-all class performance. This data has not been available until now. Until Terrco, Husqvarna, Lavina, WerkMaster, CMW and Aztec stepped up to prove what we can expect for the work we want to do. CPm is proud to have created and hosted the Concrete Polishing Rodeo© for 2011. We look forward to working with manufacturers across all segments of our industry to produce events that will define every aspect of our industry’s equipment performance. We thank all of our participants and sponsors for making the Rodeo© possible. Nevada Concrete Services proved to be a totally willing and essential partner and gave us as fair and even playing field for all class demonstrations. They along with WerkMaster and a couple of other manufacturers asked for the MMA (bonus round) surface removal test to demonstrate another aspect of real world challenges contractors face on every job and we feel the data and the conclusion of the exercises provides unrivaled insight into how we can turn out the best possible end result for every project. Without consistent quality control, based on reliable equipment performance and application knowledge, we cannot expect to grow our market to the scale and potential we all know is possible. Our thanks for helping make this year’s Rodeo© a great event. Please check back as we continue to post field video on our sites. Our sincere congratulations to all for helping make this event the success we envisioned. Craig Walton
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