Plant Equipment and Hire November 2019 | Page 11

ON SITE F or large equipment connoisseurs, South African giant Bell Equipment’s range of solutions continues to provide enough to discuss for at least another year, or until Bell unleashes its next trendsetter. Bell’s open days for customers, which was attended by Plant Equipment and Hire, included a walk through the factory at the facility in Richards Bay, as well as a visit to the famous farm where it all began just after the first World War, when Irvin Bell started repairing old farm machinery on the outskirts of Empangeni in KwaZulu-Natal. The two open days were attended by a large group of Bell’s clients in the quarrying, mining, construction, timber and agricultural sectors. They described the event as ‘insightful, www.equipmentandhire.co.za informative and hugely successful’. Not only did the open day give Bell’s customers, some as far afield as Zimbabwe, an opportunity to interact with the Bell sales team, but it also provided valuable networking time. Moreover, clients could test drive new equipment and the Bell team brought them up to speed on upgrades, new designs, ideas and new technology. Six different areas were set up on the farm property where a range of different products were on show – with technicians and the sales team on hand to provide answers to further questions. Product specialists gave customers a walkaround of new equipment and explained new features. The product range included Bell ADTs, Bomag’s drum rollers, Kobelco excavators, John Deere graders, Matriarch’s forestry equipment and Finlay’s conveyors and cone crushers. The highlight for many was test driving the Articulated Dump Trucks (ADTs) and with Bell introducing their new Mark 3 upgrades, there were many questions to answer. Three ADTs (B30E, B50E and B60E) were put through their paces around the challenging test ground. Plant Equipment and Hire was given the opportunity to test drive all the ADTs, the new generation 10 Kobelco SK300LC excavator, the new John Deere 620G Grader, Bomag’s BF300P Paver and BW120AD Single Drum Roller, the F-series Logger and a static model of Matriach’s TimberPro. Over the course of the following months, Plant Equipment and Hire will run a number of articles focusing on these products. NOVEMBER 2019 9