MANUFACTURING
that have been developed on South African
soil with our team of local engineers.”
Innovations are designed to improve
safety and productivity on job sites and
include keyless entry, Hill Stop, Bin
Tip Prevention, Turbo Spin Protection,
On Board Weighing, and an Auto Park
Applications as standard features. Bell
Equipment’s own fleet monitoring system,
Fleetm@tic®, has been designed in-house
to provide customers with a tailor-made
tool to meet their needs according to their
operating environments. “The onboard
weighing system tracks the mass of
each load, providing customers with
detailed knowledge of how their machine
is running as well as how much their
machine has carried.”
“Over the decades, Bell has made a positive
impact on the South African economy
through its manufacturing efforts,” Goosen
says. Today, the company continues to be
a sizeable employer with approximately
3 200 employees worldwide, of which
approximately 2 500 are in South Africa.
The multiplier effect of Bell operations
in South Africa with related businesses
providing the company with both goods
and services is significant, with over 1 000
South African companies working together
with Bell to produce, service, and distribute
its products across the world. The company
is constantly looking at ways to increase its
global competitiveness through developing
local suppliers and incorporating their
components into Bell machines.
The effect of local manufacturing on job
creation cannot be underestimated. For
every person Bell employs, an additional
eight to 10 jobs are created within South
Africa throughout the company’s supply
chain. The knock-on effect that supporting
local manufacturers has on job creation is
therefore massive.
Apart from creating jobs, Bell is also
in the business of training its employees
to ensure that whether an individual is a
welder, assembler, boilermaker, machinist,
or a millwright within the factory, or
whether they are an earthmoving mechanic
supporting machines in the field, Bell
employees equip themselves professionally
and deliver a quality service.
Partnering for success
To be sustainable and successful, Bell
Equipment has had to be as innovative,
tenacious, and reliable as its products are
to survive and grow in the ever-challenging
manufacturing industry.
The company has therefore developed
an extensive global footprint to provide
first-class customer support, including
superior parts availability and competitive
parts pricing. In southern Africa, the
company also complements its own
manufactured products with a full-line range
of partner products, some of which are also
manufactured or assembled locally.
“Our alliance partners include global
manufacturing giants such as Deere, which
supplies Bell with construction equipment
such as graders, dozers, tractor loader
backhoes, and wheeled loaders; Bomag
Bell has been designing and manufacturing
its core product, the ADT, since the mid-
1980s and today, through a passion for
innovation and continuous improvement, the
company is recognised as an ADT specialist
for having the largest and most advanced
range on the global market.
“The current generation — the E-series
— comprises small trucks, varying from
18-tons to 30-tons for construction and
infrastructure. Large trucks, from 40 -
tons to 50-tons, are ideally suited to bulk
earthworks, mining, and quarrying, while
the groundbreaking 60-ton 4 × 4 crossover
concept, the B60E, is targeted at high
production operations that experience
poor underfoot conditions that limit the
suitability of rigid dump trucks,” he says. “Our
engineering expertise and product quality are
comparable with other global players in the
industry, and we are immensely proud of the
groundbreaking technological advancements
An innovation pioneer
with compaction, road building, and waste
handling equipment; and Finlay with mobile
crushing and screening plant.
“Japanese excavator specialist, Kobelco,
joined the Bell family last year, providing
a complete range of standard excavators,
ideally matched to our Bell ADT range.
This has recently been extended to
include three mini excavators, all short rear
swing machines, suited to the compact
construction and agriculture industries.
“Kobelco is seen globally as the
benchmark with regard to excavator carriers
for the forestry industry. Over time, they
have perfected models to operate in this
specific environment, which bodes well for
Bell where these types of hybrid machines
are popular. Forestry is a key market
segment for the company and we are
excited to have a competitive product to add
value to our product offering to this industry.”
At the end of 2017, Bell also entered
into a partnership with Kamaz, which
introduces heavy-duty tippers to the
product range for the first time and
will, in time, also add volume to the
manufacturing business. Goosen says that
Bell has invested in the commissioning of
a CKD (complete knockdown) assembly
line at its Richards Bay factory for the local
assembly of Kamaz tippers.
“The roll-out of the first trucks from the
Bell assembly line is expected during the last
quarter of 2018 or first quarter of 2019. The
investment in local manufacture is geared
towards achieving shorter truck lead times
for our customers and creating employment
opportunities that will significantly contribute
towards economic growth,” he adds. ■
Along Bell’s assembly line.
JUNE 2018
21