PRO Supplier

From robotics to hybrid mowers and digital apps, ground-breaking ideas to thought provoking debates, career enhancing advice to limitless opportunities; the recent SALTEX 2018 at the NEC was a landscape of possibility and prospect for the future of groundscare.  

Europe’s largest annual groundscare event featured 300 exhibitors, many of which embraced new technologies through the launch of their latest products and services showcased at the event. 

One visitor - Chris Wood, ECB pitch consultant, was certainly impressed with the machinery on show: “My job with the ECB is to gather as much information on all the new innovations and this is one tremendous outlet for that. I always think that we are one big family in this industry and SALTEX is the one occasion of the year where we can come together, network, and look at all the new machinery – it’s like a toyshop at Christmas.”

The vibrant show floor offered a fantastic opportunity to witness just how these latest technologies are having a positive impact in the groundscare industry - particularly in the all new Innovation Hub where visitors were free to attend live interviews with industry experts and trend setters at the forefront of new groundscare innovations.

This new Hub was also the ideal platform to showcase and celebrate the SALTEX 2018 Innovation Award. After making its successful debut at last year’s show, the SALTEX 2018 Innovation Award attracted even more entries from various exhibitors across the globe and included a wide variety of high-quality products, services and equipment. Judged by an independent panel of industry experts it was decided that the Toro Outcross 9060 from Reesink Turfcare, PrecisionPro from Sherriff Amenity and the ROBOCUT from McConnel were the stand out entries. Sherriff Amenity’s PrecisionPro was crowned as the winner.

Sherriff Amenity representatives however were not the only trophy winners at the show as Bridgewater & Taunton College saw off fierce competition to win the SALTEX College Cup and the winning students can now look forward to visiting the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in the run up to the Wimbledon tournament, to experience court preparation from Neil Stubley, head of courts and horticulture.

There were also an increased number of visitors looking to progress within the industry as Frank Newberry’s Job Clinic sessions were fully booked between 9am and 3pm on each day of this year’s show. The expert careers advisor offered some fantastic tips on: perfecting a CV and cover letter; how to succeed at job interviews; negotiating a package; proactive job searching and self-employment.

The many opportunities to gain expert advice prompted John Ryan, founder of Lawn Care Legends, to travel from Northern Ireland to SALTEX: “I found my visit extremely beneficial because there are a lot of industry people you can connect with that can help provide ideas on how to develop a business. It’s great to see people with such a passion for the industry and share it with others. For anyone who wants to know what’s going on in the industry, I would recommend that they visit SALTEX.” 

Free advice was available at every turn throughout the three large halls at the NEC. Visitors had the opportunity to gather one-to-one sports turf management advice from IOG regional pitch advisors at the Ask the Expert feature and Pathology and Soil Science LIVE provided an opportunity to share soil samples which were magnified, displayed on a large screen and assessed.

Learning LIVE 2018, SALTEX’s all-encompassing education programme, featured more than 50 free-to-attend seminars. Visitors gained CPD points for attendance and got to hear from expert speakers from the UK and abroad who focussed on vital issues that affect the industry.

James Pope, grounds manager at St Paul’s School in London, said he visited SALTEX to explore new concepts: “I’ve gained more ideas just from coming to this one show than I have all year. SALTEX is the right time of year and it’s the busiest and most vibrant show around - everyone is always in high spirits.”

Echoing James, was Ted Mitchell from the RFU, who was pleased to see just how the world’s longest standing groundscare exhibition has transformed over the years. 

“I’ve been attending SALTEX for many years and to see the event as it is today is incredible – it takes your breath away. It offers such a unique opportunity to meet the range of people at SALTEX in five or six hours that would, in any other circumstance, take me a huge amount of time over a number of months. SALTEX brings the industry together all in one place.”

SALTEX does indeed unite every corner of the industry – the manufacturers and suppliers, the visitors and speakers, the governing bodies and associations; who contributed to the conversations, the learnings, the ideas, the debates, and actively played their part in shaping the future of groundscare and creating opportunity for all.  

For more information visit www.iogsaltex.com

Votes: 0
E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of Landscape Juice Network to add comments!

Join Landscape Juice Network

Open forum activity

Stuart @ Eco Garden Maintenance updated their profile
1 hour ago
Sam Bainbridge replied to Andrew Bentley's discussion Finding work
"Parish magazine and recommendations are the only way if you expect to be fully booked in a.month think again. It takes time and effort you have to be better than the rest to recommendations or cheaper. I'd go cheaper at the start then as you fill up…"
2 hours ago
Ian Harvey replied to Ben Huntington's discussion Advice: Fencing down Concrete Steps
"What is the width of the steps (side to side)? They don't look very wide, and putting a fence in the middle might make the steps unusable for both parties. You could spend a lot of time and money doing this, only to have your neighbour legally…"
4 hours ago
Peel Projects updated their profile
12 hours ago
Andrew Bentley and Honey Badger are now friends
PRO
18 hours ago
Adam Woods replied to Ben Huntington's discussion Advice: Fencing down Concrete Steps
"ok.. I thought it was along the hedge line... in the middle of the steps i agree, my idea isnt going to work"
20 hours ago
Ben Huntington replied to Ben Huntington's discussion Advice: Fencing down Concrete Steps
"The boundary line runs down the centre of these steps so esstentially it will run from the gap between the window/patio door right down the steps to where the bin is on picture 2"
yesterday
Ben Huntington replied to Ben Huntington's discussion Advice: Fencing down Concrete Steps
"Thanks for your response but we definetly want fencing instead of a hedge"
yesterday
Ben Huntington replied to Ben Huntington's discussion Advice: Fencing down Concrete Steps
"Does this give you the view you need?"
yesterday
Tim Bucknall replied to Ben Huntington's discussion Advice: Fencing down Concrete Steps
"How are you going to put a hedge down the centre of concrete steps?"
yesterday
Tim Bucknall replied to Ben Huntington's discussion Advice: Fencing down Concrete Steps
"A better picture would help, so we can see what's at the foot of the steps, and what happens to the boundary line at the top.  To get posts in any depth you'd need a big hole which would make it very hard to do neatly.  I would probably be thinking…"
yesterday
Paul Errington posted a blog post
The team at Wulstan Fencing and Landscapes, based in Stoke-on-Trent, love their Ziplevel! If you need a quote for installing fencing, driveway gates, decking or block paving, call Wulstan on  07517 205011 The Ziplevel is on Special Offer until the…
yesterday
Adam Woods replied to Ben Huntington's discussion Advice: Fencing down Concrete Steps
"I have a neighbour with a similar situation - a fence was installed to the boundary (6' posts bolted to the concrete), while it doesnt fall over it waves in the wind precariously, basically not enough support from the brackets.
Personally I'd be…"
yesterday
Ian Harvey replied to PAUL's discussion Small, compact battery strimmer with variable speed trigger?
"Have a look at the Ego St1400. Cracking piece of kit with 2 power levels and variable trigger which is easy to hold at extra low speed. Well balanced with either 2.5Ah or 4.0Ah batteries. Can take 1.6mm up to 2.5mm "string"
The only thing it doesn't…"
yesterday
Billybop replied to PAUL's discussion Small, compact battery strimmer with variable speed trigger?
"Stihl introduced the AK system some years after the AP system, which to be fair wasn't really selling in the numbers they might have hoped at the time, the idea presumably to kick start sales with a less expensive battery range, can't blame them for…"
yesterday
PAUL replied to PAUL's discussion Small, compact battery strimmer with variable speed trigger?
"Yes, it runs on the AK battery system. It does also have a variable trigger but it is very sensitive and quite tricky to hold at a very low speed. "
yesterday
More…

Lawn Water Conserver

A question for those offering lawn treatments. Does anyone use a specific product, separate to their normal treatments, that's specifically used when we have long, dry periods? Can anyone recommend a good product? I imagine it would likely be a…

Read more…
0 Replies
Views: 18