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COVER STORY
AROUND THE GLOBE
INTERMAT 2015:
BELL LEADING INNOVATION
“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.
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-
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.
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CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS
JUNE 2015