Page 8 - Demo

Bell equipment has a global footprint with Articulated Dump Trucks operating in about eighty countries all over the world.
BELL SCOOPS TECHNOLOGICAL
FACT
INNOVATIONS AWARD
Heavy equipment manufacturer and distributor, Bell Equipment, won the ‘Major Contributor to Innovation and Technological Advancement in KZN’ category and was a finalist in the ‘KZN Investor with a Global Footprint’ category of the inaugural KZN Investor Awards.
Leon Goosen, Bell Equipment Group Chief Executive, said: “Our company is driven by passion and commitment to innovation and the technological advancement of our manufacturing process and products, so this award is particularly special to us. Winning awards is never the aim behind what we do, but we appreciate the recognition of our efforts, and hope that it motivates other companies to invest in our province and our country and make the most of opportunities that come their way.”
Established in KwaZulu-Natal 65 years ago by Irvine Bell, the company has been at the forefront of technological innovation in the agricultural sector and heavy equipment for the mining industry.
Bell Equipment’s first invention in 1954 was a self-loading sugarcane trailer for local farmers. Since then, the company has been instrumental in shaping mechanisation in the sugar industry. In 1964, the company’s world-first hydraulic three-wheeled cane loader revolutionised the labour intensive sugarcane industry.
This was followed by the world’s first heavy duty Africa haulage tractor in 1977. The mining industry was next, with innovative heavy duty equipment; a new production facility in Richards Bay opened in 1984 from which the first articulated dump truck was launched.
It hasn’t stopped, as the company regularly pushes the boundaries of industry and has become an international brand name across all fields that need heavy duty trucks and machinery.
“The company owes its success to the guiding principles of its founders, the support of its customers and the commitment of its employees”, said Goosen. “This has enabled our economic investment and we are extremely proud of the job creation efforts, supplier development and social economic development initiatives that we have created over six and a half decades.”
Bell Equipment employs around 3 000 people in South Africa and supports a deep supply chain of 1 000 South African companies,
half of which are based in KZN. The close proximity of the company to the industrial ports of Durban and Richards Bay allows it to export to 80 countries around the world.
Also notable is a Memorandum of Understanding between the South African National Roads Agency and Bell Equipment, which gives small contractors access to earthmoving machinery and technical support from
Bell Equipment.
In December 2019, Bell Equipment concluded a Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment agreement, effective as of 1 January 2020, which will empower the Group’s manufacturing subsidiary, Bell Equipment Company South Africa, and further empower the local sales and distribution subsidiary, Bell Equipment Sales South Africa.
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A Bell B45E articulated dump truck and Kobelco excavator