Vegas watches the earth crumble at World of Concrete show — PHOTOS

At its heart, the World of Concrete show is about construction.

But as a Reno company exhibiting at the 41st annual trade show has proved, it’s also about tearing things down, busting them up and smashing them to bits.

The four-day show opened at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Tuesday with attendance estimated at more than 48,000 people. The show is open only to construction industry professionals and includes displays

of products and tools, educational sessions on building materials and procedures and competitions to find the fastest bricklayer and the nimblest heavy-equipment operator in the country.

“We had 48,000 here last year, and it’s definitely up,” said Steve Pomerantz, senior marketing manager of the show, developed by Dallas-based Informa Exhibitions.

Pomerantz believes the increased show attendance is an indicator that more construction is on the horizon as the economy continues to rebound.

Pomerantz said there are 1,425 exhibitors on 674,000 square feet, a 17 percent increase in space used over the 2014 show. World of Concrete has been in Las Vegas annually since 2004, when the industry adopted the city as its trade show home every January or February. When the show first arrived in Las Vegas in 1976, it rotated among four cities.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said World of Concrete produces a $63.1 million nongaming economic impact on Southern Nevada.

Exhibits fill the Convention Center’s floors, and some of the larger — and noisier — exhibits are set up in two parking lots adjacent to the facility.

Among the big and noisy is Reno-based MB America, the U.S. subsidiary of an international company based in Italy.

MB America CEO Max Ravazzolo CEO said his company could have located anywhere in the United States when it incorporated in the United States in 2010. He chose Reno for its favorable business environment, its proximity to the nation’s largest market, California, and the quality of life the community provides for him and his 15 employees.

Ravazzolo is a skier, hiker and outdoors enthusiast.

“I’ve traveled extensively in my work, but I’ve never regretted locating the company in Reno,” he said.

MB America draws large crowds to its outdoor booth because the company demonstrates its excavator-mounted crushing system every 20 minutes.

Designed and manufactured in Italy, the crusher has several U.S. patents. A crushing unit is attached to the end of an excavator. The shovel scoops up large blocks of broken concrete, stands upright and obliterates the large chunks into manageable pieces of rock. Smaller units can scoop up those smaller pieces and reduce them to rubble.

Eventually, the material is broken down enough to become a base for a new road or sidewalk.

The crushing units are equipped with a 24-volt electromagnet that can pull metal rebar from crushed debris.

For the show demonstration, the excavator was scooping up concrete blocks weighing 50 to 200 pounds each.

“By reducing the concrete into a base, we’ve developed a whole new product,” Ravazzolo said. “We’ve turned a liability into an asset.”

Other companies have produced concrete crushers but none as portable as the MB version. Depending on the size of the unit, the crushers sell for between $30,000 and $250,000.

About 11,000 units have been sold worldwide to concrete companies, contractors, road builders and demolition companies. Locating in Nevada gave MB another market — the mining industry. The company recently closed an equipment sales deal with Kinross, a Canadian gold-mining company with operations in Nevada.

Ravazzolo said MB has about 93 percent market share in Europe and virtually all the business in North America because of the unique attributes of the product.

Dozens of show attendees gathered around the MB display booth during demonstrations, watching as an excavator swung from and maneuvered along a small hill of broken concrete.

While one demonstration was in progress, Ravazzolo took out his smartphone and initiated a video call.

“It’s my grandson in Venice,” Ravazzolo said.

“He just loves to watch this kind of stuff,” he said as the crusher obliterated another pile of concrete.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta.