Supplier expects equipment sales to increase in 2014, 2015

Bill Royce is all too familiar with the buying cycles of U.S. aggregate producers by now.

Royce, now the Mid-Atlantic sales manager for KPI-JCI, has seen sales slow in crushing and screening equipment over the last few years. But Royce has reason to believe sales will pick up significantly in the next two or three years.

“Producers have been putting off purchasing new equipment since 2006 and 2007,” he says. “If houses aren’t being built, quarries aren’t firing up and machines are not being used at full capacity. If you go through a couple-year period [not buying], then you just put a couple more years onto an existing crusher.”

Royce adds that the buying lag can be seen across the industry, and because machine lifespans have been extended since the last big buying period he cites in 2006-2007, Joyce expects a wave of producers to come calling for new equipment in the next couple years.

“What’s exciting from the manufacturer’s vantage point is [buying] goes in cycles,” Royce says. “The industry has been at the bottom of the cycle. We’ve been fortunate to have another good year at our company, but we’re still maybe one or two years out when people will be willing to purchase new equipment.” -Kevin Yanik, managing editor