Almost a year after assuming the CEO role at Bell Equipment Limited, Ashley Bell, the grandson of the company’s founder Irvine Bell, has hit the ground running in the quest to carry the Bell legacy forward.
The task at hand is no walk in the park and this is well illustrated by his hectic schedule. Squeezing an hour out of his busy schedule was no easy feat for Quarrying Africa either, and not because he was trying to avoid the interview, rather because his time is so carefully balanced between running the day-to-day operations of the company and being an executive director of the board, a position he has held, previously in a non-executive capacity, for the past nine years.
In fact, this institutional knowledge has put him in good stead to find his feet very early into the role. Commenting on his early days into the job, Bell says he is fortunate to have grown up in an environment where Bell Equipment has always been a focal point, which has made it easy to get going.
“Growing up in an environment where Bell Equipment has always been a central theme has been beneficial. In addition, I was already familiar with the business at a strategic level, having served as a non-executive director since March 2015, providing input to the Risk and Sustainability committee, as well as the Social, Ethics and Transformation committee,” he says.
Of significance, he says, is that the business’s strategy is well established, and the management team with whom he is tasked to execute the strategy brings a wealth of experience and institutional knowledge. The task at hand, he adds, is identifying the elements of the strategy that need to be accelerated or prioritised, as well as establishing the most effective ways of executing the strategy.
“Other than these strategic focus areas, my return to the business certainly speaks to the strong emphasis on restoring the family values on which the business was built and succeeded over the past 70 years. A major part of that is putting customers at the centre of everything we do – continuously understanding our customers’ needs and providing solutions that speak directly to these specific needs,” he says.
Major milestones
Bell’s first year as CEO of Bell Equipment coincides with the company’s 70th anniversary this year – a significant milestone in the history of the business. “As a family and a team, we are exceptionally proud of the achievements of the past 70 years. From humble beginnings at the southern tip of Africa, we have gone on to establish ourselves as a formidable global yellow metal original equipment manufacturer (OEM) which, I believe, could have seemed impossible during the founding days,” he says.
The strength of the Bell brand, he adds, lies in the strong family values of integrity, honesty, accountability and respect. Supporting this foundation is the Bell motto of ‘Strong Reliable Machines, Strong Reliable Support’, which represents the company’s customer-centric approach, ideals and ethical stance throughout its manufacturing, distribution and support network.
Apart from the 70th anniversary, 2024 also marks Bell Equipment’s 40 years of articulated dump truck (ADT) manufacturing. To date, the ADT remains the company’s core product, making up a good 80% of Bell Equipment’s OEM business. Looking back to the journey, Bell says the 2001 launch of the D-Series was a step change for Bell Equipment from a global recognition perspective. The introduction of the range, he says, provided a springboard into major global markets.
The current E-series generation, which made its debut in 2014, is to date one of the most technologically advanced ADT ranges on the market. “Over the years, we have surely stayed ahead of the pack in the ADT market. One of the major milestones was when we pioneered the 50-t ADT, which was the largest on the market at the time. We followed that up with the introduction of the 60-t ADT, which was again the largest at the time of its launch. With the B60E, we also introduced the 4×4 concept – a hybrid between a rigid truck setup and an ADT – which still sets us apart in this market segment,” he says.
New trends
In line with new trends in the global yellow metal equipment market, Bell Equipment has in recent years placed a major focus on autonomous controlled ADTs. The company has taken an agnostic approach by developing autonomous ready ADTs. This allows customers to integrate a multitude of autonomous control systems with the Bell product. All Bell ADTs developed in the past four years can be converted to autonomous controlled machines.
“Autonomous controlled ADTs have been a focal point for Bell Equipment during the past four years, with several test machines running in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in Europe and the United States,” he says. “In a joint effort with our customer, Chepstow Plant International, we launched the UK’s first autonomous ADT in March this year, which has been hard at work in a quarrying environment and was also demonstrated at Hillhead.”
Bell believes that autonomous ADTs will quickly gain traction in Northern Hemisphere markets, particularly where there is unavailability of labour or where high labour costs are an issue. In addition, the uptake will be driven by the industry’s quest for not only cost savings, but also the need to drive high levels of productivity and safety.
On the back of an apparent Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) drive, one of the key focus areas for several international OEMs has been the development of battery electric- and hydrogen-powered solutions. Bell Equipment continues to explore different new technologies and avenues to find suitable alternative fuel and propulsion solutions for a zero carbon future.
However, Bell believes that there is a common understanding in the industry that given the size and duty cycle of machines such as ADTs, it is likely that battery electric solutions may not be the answer for all applications, based on current market developments. However, he says, this may well change in the near future. “We are working with a technology partner in Europe to convert an ADT to battery electric. We are treating this project as a learning opportunity,” he says.
For Bell, hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines at this stage seem to be a highly probable solution for heavy duty mining machines such as ADTs. While the company does not make its own engines, Bell Equipment is keeping a keen eye on its engine technology partners’ continued development efforts in the hydrogen space.
OEM product expansion
The ongoing development and enhancement of OEM products is a major growth pillar for Bell Equipment. This, says Bell, is currently anchored by the imminent launch of the Bell Motor Grader, which will roll off the Richards Bay production line by mid-2025.
“For the past four years, the Bell Motor Grader development has been inarguably our largest research and development (R&D) project. For the past two years, several test units have been running across various applications in Southern Africa. Much like our ADT, we believe that we have developed a world class product in terms of quality, performance and reliability,” says Bell.
Bell will initially offer three base machines. The G140 is well suited to all maintenance and light to medium construction tasks while the G160, with its increased power and performance, is designed to handle heavy construction applications. Completing the range is the G200, which is designed for bulk earthworks and the mining industry. Each base machine has the option of a four- or six-wheel drive configuration.
The Bell grader has been designed as a truly international product with the capability to meet varying emission regulations in international markets as well as different types of operator controls. The South African launch of this product is only the start of an exciting journey. Bell will be launching graders into its various international markets in a staged approach.
International growth
Having over the years bolstered its international presence, the majority of Bell Equipment’s business now comes from the international market. While the company’s primary manufacturing facility remains in South Africa, local direct sales during 2023 only accounted for 32% of the total group revenue, confirms Bell. In fact, he says, our Northern Hemisphere sales to external dealers during 2023 accounted for about 42% of the company’s total revenue, with the rest coming from the Southern Hemisphere.
“We have enjoyed some great successes internationally over the past 20-30 years,” he says. “One of the most significant milestones in our international journey was the 2003 establishment of our ADT assembly facility in Germany. Over the past four years, this has been expanded considerably to service the growing business in the Northern Hemisphere markets, which to date constitute two-thirds of the global ADT market.”
With almost two-thirds of component suppliers based in the Northern Hemisphere, producing in Germany to service the European and United States markets also makes a lot of sense for Bell Equipment. “Our expanding European supplier base has amplified the negative impact of ‘round-tripping’ materials and components from Europe to South Africa and reinforced our decision to manufacture our Northern Hemisphere ADTs closer to both suppliers and markets,” he explains.
Looking to the future, Bell sees significant growth opportunities in the United States, driven largely by the construction sector as large infrastructure projects continue apace. The United States is the world’s largest ADT market and, having re-established its United States presence some ten years ago, the company has successfully grown its market share. To support the growing business, Bell Equipment established a new parts logistics centre in South Carolina in 2023.
Back to the roots
Bell Equipment and IA Bell and Company (IAB) published a joint Firm Intention Announcement during July which was the start of a process which could see the delisting of Bell Equipment from the JSE, contingent upon the acceptance of a takeover offer from IAB, a major shareholder and investment holding company led by the Bell family. IAB, which already holds 70,13% of Bell Equipment’s shares, has offered to buy out the remaining minority shareholders for R53 per share.
Commenting on the strategic intent of this decision, Bell tells Quarrying Africa that the delisting would allow Bell Equipment greater agility so that it may adapt to the competitive global industry and to take a longer-term view in its decision making.
“In any business, there are certain decisions that do not always yield immediate returns but create long-term value. By the very nature of publicly traded or listed companies, shareholders ought to look for the best possible returns in the short term. As a family, we are in this business for the long run and we would rather take decisions which are in the best interest of the sustainability of the business in the long term,” he says.
IAB believes that Bell Equipment has over the past 30 years derived limited value from its listing as the benefits of share liquidity and capital raising were constrained by the lack of investment appetite in small-cap stocks.
“We have never gone to market to raise capital, and we believe that the cost associated with maintaining the listing is not commensurate with the limited value derived from the listing,” concludes Bell.
