ERA convention opens in Amsterdam
23 June 2014
The European Rental Association (ERA) Convention opened on 24 June and runs to 26 June at the Amsterdam Rai venue in the Netherlands.
Senior figures from the global rental industry spoke in the panel discussion, including United Rentals CEO Michael Kneeland, Loxam CEO Gérard Déprez, Cramo CEO Vesa Koivula, Vokjer Stevin Materieel COO Derrick Golden, and Hilti regional head for Northern Europe Gareth Lewis.
The day ended with a cocktail reception open to participants to the ERA Convention and exhibitors at the International Rental Exhibition (IRE).
The morning of 25 June began with a roundtable discussion about what the industry can learn from Japan. Xiaoming Cheng, board member from the Japan Construction Equipment Rental Association, will take part.
A second roundtable is also scheduled for that morning on the theme of yield management, with speakers including United Rentals CFO Bill Plummer; financial manager at Cramo Sweden Ann-Charlotte Ågren; and Eric Hills, SVP Zilliant.
This will be followed by a promotion committee report from HSS’s Fiona Perrin, and then an equipment technology report from Cramo’s Martin Holmgren.
The afternoon of 25 June will begin with a plenary session including a presentation on rental versus ownership, with MEP Judith Merkies, and a presentation on the future of the web from Cor Molenaar of eMarketing and Distance Selling.
Market trends
Later that afternoon, American Rental Association CEO Chris Wehrman will give a presentation on trends in the US rental industry, followed by a presentation on trends in the European rental industry from Graham Arundell, managing director of HAE and chairman of the European Rental Association statistics committee.
The evening of 25 June will play host to the European Rental Awards dinner – the shortlist for which has been released.
On the third day, a parts management roundtable will kick off the morning of 26 June, featuring Cramo’s Martin Holmgren and SmartEquip’s Alex Schuessler.
The main theme of this year’s ERA Convention is ‘Internet as a Game Changer', and the second roundtable of the morning will be on this subject, featuring Eugen Russ from Erento and Christian Seifert from Avenit.
Google keynote
The ERA Convention culminates with guest speaker Richard Robinson, director at internet giant Google, addressing delegates on the afternoon of 26th June – a high-profile speech that looks set to be a real highlight.
The ERA Convention takes place at the same time as the sell-out International Rental Exhibition and APEX international access platform exhibitions – all three are being held at the Amsterdam RAI Exhibition Centre.
For more details, and to register for the ERA Convention, click on the following link:
http://www.erarental.org/upcoming-events/upcoming/ERA-Convention-2014-and-International-Rental-Exhibition-15.html