Schwing Hosts Mack Press Event

Members of the press gathered at the Schwing factory in White Bear, Minnesota in mid-August, where executives of Mack Truck discussed market conditions for their line of construction trucks. Most encouraging for the concrete pumping industry was that the iconic truck manufacturer is predicting another strong year in the construction segment, where its Granite and TerraPro models have been top sellers.

According to Jonathon Randall, Mack’s senior vice president of North American sales and marketing, the company anticipates manufacturing 325,000 trucks by the end of this year. Similar sales are expected for 2020. The company supplies approximately 750 trucks per year for concrete pump applications. Throughout the concrete-pumping industry, approximately 86 percent of truckmounted concrete pumps are paired with Mack chassis, according to the company. Randall added that despite slow housing starts, the company is seeing very positive trends in the construction business.

Bruce Young, CEO of Brundage-Bone Concrete Pumping, explained that while his job evolved significantly from his early days as a pump operator, one thing remained constant: The concrete pumps he worked with and purchased were almost always installed on Mack® trucks. “Mack caters to the construction industry, and particularly to the concrete pumping industry,” Young noted.

The event also included a tour of the 400,000-square-foot Schwing manufacturing facility. Tom O’Malley, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Schwing America, said 80 percent of the trucks Schwing uses for its concrete pumps are Mack. Truck-mounted pumps make up 45 percent of Schwing’s overall sales, with truck mixers second, at 16 percent.

O’Malley explained that Schwing typically orders generic trucks that are less specific to any particular application. Once a customer places an order, Schwing then tailors the truck to meet the needs of the customer at the White Bear factory. During the tour, O’Malley noted some of the most recent models in production, including the new S 36 X Revolution with 360 degrees of boom articulation.