Page 38 - KZN Top Business Portfolio eBook -2024

BELL EQUIPMENT

VISION
Bell Equipment’s vision is to be the global ADT
specialist and a leader in the heavy equipment and
industrial goods sector, developing and supplying
leading, quality brands into the construction, mining,
forestry, agriculture and industrial sectors in a number
of chosen markets.
KEY PERSONNEL
Non-executive Chairman: Group Chief Executive: Non-executive Chairman: Gary Bell
Gary Bell Ashley Bell Group Chief Executive: Ashley Bell
Group Finance Director: Karen van Haght
Full Name of Company: Bell Equipment Limited Chief Strategy Officer: Avishkar Goordeen
Business Units: Bell Mining & Construction, Bell Group Company Secretary: Diana Mcilrath
Underground Mining, and Bell Forestry & Agriculture CONTACT DETAILS
Nature of Business: Manufacturing, distribution and support
Products: A wide range of heavy equipment for the HEAD OFFICE
construction, mining, quarrying, and the sugar & forestry Physical Address: 13 – 19 Carbonode Cell Road, Alton,
industries globally. Richards Bay, 3900
Date Established: 1954 Postal Address: Private Bag X20046, Empangeni, 3880,
South Africa
No. of Employees: Over 2 500 Tel: +27 (0)35 907 9111
Auditors: Deloitte & Touche E-mail: Stephen.McNeill@bellequipment.com
B-BBEE Status: Level 3 Website: www.bellequipment.com

A PASSION FOR INNOVATION technology and able to control each of the large drive
wheels independently, the Bell Tri-wheeler could turn
With secure roots in KwaZulu-Natal, Bell Equipment is instantly on its own axis and had enough power to lift
today recognised globally as a company that designs, and stack sugar cane infield or load a trailer.
manufactures, distributes, and supports a wide range The Bell Tri-wheeler, now in the F-series generation,
of earthmoving and material handling equipment is still in production and used extensively in sugar
into various industries around the world. farming and forestry. Many older models remain in
operation, which speaks volumes about the build
The company was established by Irvine Bell in 1954 as
a small engineering and agricultural repair business quality and longevity of Bell machines.
on the KZN North Coast. Irvine had a passion for Global ADT Specialist
innovation and manufactured various inventions, The early 1980s saw the arrival of Articulated Dump
including a self-loading sugar cane trailer and an Trucks (ADTs) imported from Europe. Although
overhead transfer crane for local farmers. It was the effective and versatile, Bell saw room for improvement
development of a tri-wheeled cane loader a few years and fine-tuned their design to better cope with the
later, however, that revolutionised the sugar industry harsh operating conditions common in Africa.
and irrevocably changed the company’s trajectory.
Today, through a passion for innovation and continuous
Sugar farmers of that time employed a sizeable labour improvement, the company is recognised as a global
force to manually cut, stack and load cane for transport ADT specialist and manufacturer with the largest and
to the mills. A few rudimentary cane loading machines most advanced range in the world. The current E-series
had appeared on the scene, but Irvine designed generation ranges from 18 to 50t suited to construction,
a whole new class of machine that was simple to infrastructure, bulk earthworks, mining, and quarrying.
operate and highly manoeuvrable. Using hydrostatic Bell is also influencing global ADT trends with its 4x4 ADT
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