Capital Equipment News June 2015

COVER STORY AROUND THE GLOBE

INTERMAT 2015: BELL LEADING INNOVATION

KUBOTA SPRAY CABINS – A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENTIATING FACTOR Veteran tractor expert, Kubota SA’s Mike Heath, warns that South African farmers are not taking seriously enough the im- portance of a well-designed, safe trac- tor cab which conforms to international safety standards. “This is most especially important with cabs of spraying tractors,” says Heath. He adds that one of the problems is that farmers have become guided by price alone failing to take into consideration the life-time costs of ownership. “It is pro- ductivity over the life of a tractor that is the most important issue not the once- off capital cost,” says Heath, “and this productivity is very much influenced by, amongst other things, tractor quality and operator comfort and safety.” Heath says that a variety of both import- ed and locally constructed tractor cabs have been available in South Africa for many years. “While the imported cabs are generally built according to these interna- tional safety standards, many of the local- ly made cabs, built mainly with economy in mind, often do not comply,” Heath says. The facts are clear. The cabs available on the various Kubota tractors, like the M8540N, which is used extensively for spraying, have many important features that meet international farming safety standards and Heath says that if you are considering upgrading your tractors, par- ticularly spray tractors, you must be sure to check Kubota’s important features and build-quality. “The main areas of evaluation must concern safety, visibility, sound, climate control, the layout of the controls, oper-

“We are hugely satisfied with the result of Intermat 2015,” comments Gary Bell, CEO of the global ADT specialist, Bell Equip-

ment. “Visitor attendance didn’t reach that of 2012, but we were once again impressed by the high calibre of our guests, which led to professional contacts and intensive ex- pert discussions. “The international attendance clearly re- flected the local market situation, with a little but very interested overseas fraction from the Northern Americas and Africa and large European repre- sentation, especial- ly out of the booming UK and Scandinavian markets. With all our global mar- ket re- gions represented through their respective branches on the Bell stand, we were able to fully reach our aim, to use Intermat 2015 as a broad platform to present our latest products and to inform about our contin- uous R&D activities and further improve- ments in our customer- oriented service and after sales operations,” he added. With a prototype of its Bell B50E – still acknowledged as being the world’s largest production 6x6 – Bell Equipment gave an insight to the state of development of its larger E-series trucks from 35 to 50 tons. In Paris, the ADT specialist also shared information about the development of its coming B60E. “As a completely new con- cept, the B60D introduced last year is prov- ing to be very successful in several markets. In South Africa mining companies are look- ing to replace their fleets of 60-ton rigid trucks with Bell B60Ds, with some deals already concluded.

ator space and, most importantly, air filtra- tion. You will be impressed with all these features which meet all the customers farming safety requirements,” Heath says. “While operator safety and comfort is im- portant from a labour ethics point of view – and more famers in our country should be taking this into account – I must stress that a poorly equipped cab is also bad for busi- ness! Even though a world class cab may be more expensive in terms of the initial outlay, the extra productivity gained through a safe, comfortable and happy operator outweighs this expense a hundred-fold over the life- time of the tractor,” concludes Heath. Kubota tractors and construction equip- ment is distributed in South Africa by Smith Power Equipment.

40 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS JUNE 2015