With over 16 years of experience within the construction equipment industry on an international level, Ioia brings knowledge and professionalism into these markets. He has a track record of working at important players in the quarrying and construction equipment industry like: Bergerat Monnoyer (Caterpillar dealer), Powerscreen, Terex washing systems and Portafill.
At Keestrack, Ioia will be responsible for Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Russia, Serbia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Ukraine, managing and acquiring dealers for Keestrack Mobile Crushing and Screening Equipment.
Ioia sees a positive future for his territory. “Even though we live in some troubled times right now, infrastructure for travelling and logistics will still be essential. And considering that 1km of highway needs around 25,000 tonnes of aggregates, I predict a great future for the crushing and screening equipment industry. Add to this the 400 tonnes of aggregates used for building an average home and being part of this industry looks like a great idea when choosing a career.”
He continues: “Eastern Europe is an area with great potential as the need for natural, manufactured and recycled aggregates will be at a high level for many years to come to the same economic development as in Western Europe; if you consider the fact that in a country like The Netherlands, with a territory of 40,000km², it has 2,800km of highways, while Bulgaria, with a territory of 110,000km², has 800km of highways. Recovering this gap means a lot of aggregates, so a significant demand for crushing and screening equipment.”
The advantages of tracked mobile equipment, according to Ioia, are clear. “The versatility of mobile equipment is always an advantage compared to static plants due to less logistic costs. But one of the big advantages of a static plant was it could be an electric-driven system, with a significantly lower production cost. With the development of an electric-driven system in the mobile plant industry, things have changed a lot. A mobile e-drive plant could be pure gold for a quarry, combining the versatility and a lower operational cost. And this is where Keestrack claims to be a game-changer in the industry. As there are many contractors involved in national projects of infrastructure, moving their equipment from on-site to another on the route of a new highway, the e-driven equipment from Keestrack could be the first choice for many of them.
“One of the main strengths of Keestrack is its ability for innovation according to the needs of its customers. The e-driven system (the ability to run a plant in diesel/electric mode or electrical plug-in mode) is one of the best examples,” says Ioia. This is the reason, he explains, why he wanted to start working at Keestrack as he sees the firm being the promoter of innovation in the crushing and screening industry while having a good understanding of how the industry will develop in future.
The fact Keestrack is still an independent company, with its founders still involved in the business and in direct contact with the company team members and distribution partners, made Ioia decide it is a great place to work as any communication will definitely reach the right person, so you are not missing any business opportunity. This also applies to the distribution network: as a Keestrack distribution partner, you have a close human relationship and direct contact with the founders, so it is not just a B2B relation, but it goes further than that, which makes a partner to feel he is part of the family.
Ioia adds: “Also the product range and the various options which can be equipped on a plant, providing the user the optimum configuration for his application to help him reach the standards of the aggregates and recycling industry, is another example of the strength of the Keestrack brand.”
Considering the strengths above, Keestrack says it is well prepared to tackle one of the best long-term opportunities in the area: in countries like Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, which are part of the European Union, the European Green Deal (a climate-neutral economy by 2050) suits perfectly the electrical driven system in which Keestrack invests huge efforts.
In a territory like Russia, there is still a great coal industry, which is looking for high productivity equipment, especially impactors. This is seen as a big opportunity for Keestrack as the company has the R6 model, which suits coal industry demands. Keestrack already sold several R6, which are reaching a productivity of almost 700 tonnes per hour in coal applications.
