Q1 2026 was a quarter that took the MARKT-PILOT team across two continents, multiple industries, and thousands of miles of trade show floor. From an intimate roundtable in Frankfurt to North America’s largest construction equipment show in Las Vegas to a field service summit on the West Coast, one message resonated everywhere we went: the aftermarket can't afford to price on instinct anymore.
And for the first time, we showed up with something new to prove it.
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Before we dive into the events, there's something we need to talk about.
In February, we officially launched MP ONE: the first Pricing Performance platform built specifically for industrial manufacturers. MP ONE brings together market intelligence, pricing decisions, and performance measurement in one unified system, ending the era of annual spreadsheet exercises, cost-plus guesswork, and reactive price lists.
MP ONE changes that. Three integrated engines, Intelligence, Decision, and Performance, give teams a continuously updated, SKU-level understanding of the market, the ability to price with confidence and full traceability, and clear measurement of what each pricing decision actually delivered. Read the full MP ONE launch announcement →
We couldn't have asked for a better backdrop to launch it. Because everywhere we went in Q1, the market was proving our point.
Copperberg's Spare Parts Business Platform is not a trade show. It's Europe's most exclusive spare parts practitioner forum, just 50 seats, one full day, eleven sessions. Senior parts leaders from major manufacturers gather to share what's actually working, and what isn't. This year's edition took place in Frankfurt drawing a room focused on reshaping spare parts from a cost center into a genuine commercial engine.
MARKT-PILOT was both a partner and host of one of the roundtables at this year's event. Stefan Sandulescu and Steven Kugler represented the team on the ground.
Their roundtable topic: From Gut Feeling to Game Plan: Why Your Pricing Strategy Needs a Reality Check.
The theme running through Frankfurt was the growi
ng pressure on spare parts teams to deliver not just availability, but agility, intelligence, and demonstrable value. Leaders in the room were grappling with rising customer expectations, demand for pricing transparency, and the reality that traditional reactive models can't keep pace. The best teams, the conversations made clear, are moving toward predictive, data-driven approaches, linking market signals directly to pricing and inventory decisions. Read the full key insights from Copperberg 2026 →
With 50 seats and curated attendees, Copperberg creates the kind of room where real conversations happen. For MARKT-PILOT, it was an opportunity to discuss with some of Europe's most forward-thinking spare parts leaders, and to hear directly from practitioners about the pressures they're navigating right now.
If Copperberg is a conversation, CONEXPO-CON/AGG is a statement. With over 140,000 attendees from across the globe, CONEXPO is the largest construction equipment event in North America, and one of the biggest trade shows on earth. For a full week in Las Vegas, the industry gathered to talk sales, technology, and momentum.
Wade Holeman, Alex Boike, David Roller, Matt Bubna-Litic, Billy Kirkendale, Charlie Gray, Michael Lucaccioni, and James Hom were all on the, representing MARKT-PILOT across five full days of conversations, demos, and connections.
The message heard all week was remarkably consistent: too many teams are still relying on gut feel and outdated spreadsheets to make pricing decisions, while competitors are adjusting prices faster than they realize. For an industry moving heavy equipment and parts at massive scale, that gap has real financial consequences. The appetite for a better approach wasn't just present, it was urgent.
Construction is one of the industries where aftermarket parts represent enormous revenue potential, and enormous risk when pricing isn't optimized. MP ONE's ability to spot competitor pricing moves across markets and product lines in real time, and to make those decisions traceable and measurable, landed with force at a show full of people who felt that urgency firsthand.
Between Frankfurt and Las Vegas, the team also made the trip to Austria for the 11. Ersatzteiltagung 2026 one of the most established conferences in the German-speaking aftermarket community, now in its eleventh edition. The ETT gathers spare parts and after-sales professionals from across the DACH region for deep, practitioner-focused dialogue on the challenges shaping the industry.
On March 12, Jonas Hildebrand and Stefan Sandulescu took the stage with a session tackling one of the most persistent challenges in the aftermarket: Fair and Profitable Spare Parts Pricing in After-Sales: How Machine Manufacturers Align Costs, Customer Value, and Market Prices. Joining them on the ground was Moritz Mangold, rounding out a strong trio representing MARKT-PILOT across the event.
The verdict from Austria echoed what we heard everywhere else in Q1: too many service teams are still relying on gut feel and outdated spreadsheets while competitors are adjusting prices faster than most realize. The session drew strong engagement from attendees grappling with exactly this tension on how to set prices that are fair to customers, sustainable for the business, and grounded in what the market is actually doing. The appetite to move beyond manual pricing processes was clear.
The ETT is a cornerstone of the European aftermarket calendar, an audience that takes spare parts pricing seriously and comes ready to engage on the substance. Presenting MP ONE here, just weeks after its launch, meant putting the product in front of exactly the kind of practitioners it was built for: experienced teams who know the complexity of the problem firsthand and can immediately see the difference a purpose-built platform makes. A big thank you to Stefan, Jonas, and Moritz for representing the team brilliantly and sparking so many valuable conversations.
Field Service Next West brings together service and aftermarket leaders to discuss what it takes to build high-performing, customer-centric service organizations. This year, it was a natural home for a conversation MARKT-PILOT has been pushing for a long time: what happens to your pricing strategy when volatility doesn’t go away?
Wade Holeman, David Roller, and Billy Kirkendale were on the ground, connecting with both existing partners and new faces in the field service community.
Wade took the stage with a message that cut straight to the issue: “Closing the Static Gap: Why Volatility Demands a New Approach to Aftermarket Pricing.” The premise was direct: volatility isn't a phase. It isn't going to resolve itself. The question for aftermarket pricing leaders isn't whether the market is unstable, it's whether your pricing was ever built to handle it. Moving from reactive to continuous pricing isn’t just a technology upgrade. It’s a strategic shift in how you think about the aftermarket as a business.
Field Service Next West is an audience that understands the aftermarket deeply, these are the leaders responsible for keeping service organizations profitable and competitive. Introducing MP ONE here meant showing how Pricing Performance connects directly to the outcomes they care about: customer trust, margin protection, and the ability to respond to the market before the market responds to you.
Four events. Two continents. Countries spanning Germany, Austria, and the United States. Industries from precision manufacturing to heavy construction to field service. Audiences from across Europe and North America.
And in every room, the same recognition: the way aftermarket pricing has been done for the last decade doesn’t hold up anymore. The teams winning in this environment aren’t the ones with the best instincts, they’re the ones with the best systems. The ones who can see the market act on it, and measure what happened.
That’s the shift. And Q1 showed us just how many people are ready to make it.
Interested in seeing MP ONE in action? Book a demo and let’s talk about what Pricing Performance looks like for your business.