#343 Bauma Shanghai

I spent Thanksgiving Day this year at the International construction equipment show in Shanghai called "Bauma". Thanksgiving, of course, in China is not a holiday and thus is a normal workday. It was, though, that this year it was a bit of a field trip to this equipment trade show. I don't know where the name Bauma comes from, but it is certainly a major event in the world of Chinese, Asian, and other equipment makers. We took a busload of engineers from Wuxi and Suzhou to Bauma to spend the day studying competitor products.

Since I am the Asia Motor Grader guy, I spent the day looking at Chinese-made Motor Graders. There are a remarkable number of competitive machines. In all world outside of China, there are about five motor grader manufacturers. China alone has about 10 companies that make motor graders - some of them manufacture less than a hundred motor graders per year.