MechChem Africa May-June 2024

⎪ Local manufacturing and food processing ⎪

countries customised design engineering and manufacturing services. A new entity called Bell Heavy Industries has already been created to take advantage of the additional capacity being created. The new company aims to offer the same international quality levels used in the fabrication of Bell machines for the custom fabrication of local replacement buckets, tanks and components for any locally employed equipment brand, and the offer extends to project engineering and contract manufacturing for all industries. Design and IP True to its roots, Bell Equipment remains a proudly South Africa innovator of equip ment solutions designed to meet specific mining, construction, and agriculture needs. This is an ongoing pursuit, as exemplified by the current development of a new mo tor grader for the construction industry. “We have been selling Bell Motor Graders in Africa since 1996, so we have almost 30 years of experience in these machines. We are currently testing a completely rede signed prototype, which is already attract ing a lot of interest from those visiting our factory,” Stephen Jones continues, adding that the innovation, design and R&D role of the company is based in South Africa and will not be moving. “When we first launched our ADT into our home market, it grew very quickly and, today, South Africa is one of the top three markets in the world. We believe we had a lot to do with the rapid growth of that market,” he says. In the size of motor graders that Bell is focusing on – above 200 hp/150 kW – the South and Southern African markets are already in the global top five – and the world grader market is as big, if not bigger, than the ADT market. So, Stephen Jones is excited about the launch of another new global state-of-the-art machine, designed and developed in South Africa. The USA and Canada are the largest market in the world for ADTs and graders, he says, and once the Bell ADT market has been re-established there, he sees great opportunities over the next 10 to 15 years to become a world leader in the grader market as well. From an IP perspective, Bell Equipment has developed several niche custom equip ment solutions based on its core vehicle successes. The front end of its ADT can be morphed into articulated haulers, bottom dump trailers, timber trucks, water tank ers, fire trucks and more. The company has a range of purpose-built underground mining machines with best-in-class power to weight ratios. And the range of different

Bell Equipment components are manufactured in Richards Bay and Eisenach-Kindel in central Germany to the same world class quality standards.

Bell Equipment is currently building and testing the prototype of a completely redesigned grader, which is expected to be as successful as its iconic ADT.

Bell Equipment has tripled the size of its factory in Eisenach-Kindel to make space to do heavy fabrication, machining and assembly for all ADTs destined for European and USA markets.

attachments for the company’s agricultural and forestry machines, such as the impres sive Feller Buncher attachment initially developed for the tri-wheeler, continues to expand. Advanced features in its mobile equip ment include keyless start, hill assist, bin tip prevention, standard turbo spin protection, on board weighing, and an auto park brake,

while the Bell-developed satellite feet management system, Fleetm@tic ® , collects, sends and analyses productivity, utilisation, geolocation and machine condition data that can be accessed and managed from anywhere in the world. Long may the proud tradition established by Irvine Bell continue. www.bellequipment.com

May-June 2024 • MechChem Africa ¦ 33