Stephen McNeill, alliance partner manager at Bell Equipment, says parts support is a critical arm of the company’s business and for this reason Bell is strategically focusing on ways to improve parts availability for its customers.
“We are continuously re-evaluating our parts strategy in line with our customer needs. In today’s operating conditions, downtime due to parts unavailability is out of the question for equipment owners. We have since increased our parts stockholding to ensure maximum uptime for our customers,” says McNeill.
McNeill says an understanding of its equipment population, the lifecycle of equipment and the parts needed during the different stages of a machine’s life, directly influence Bell Equipment’s parts stocking strategy. He reasons that having a thorough understanding of spare part lead times is critical to building a successful stock programme and maximising equipment uptime. Lost production time means a significant financial loss for customers, and even a day or two without a part can be too long.
Bell Equipment was appointed the Terex Finlay dealer in southern Africa in 2013. Its dealership jurisdiction covers South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia. The company has a strong branch network across these territories, ensuring unparalleled aftermarket support for customers operating in these countries.
Bell also applies a sub-dealer approach in Botswana and Mozambique. In October this year, it appointed Kanu Equipment as its dealer in the DRC, which also distributes and supports Terex Finlay equipment in the country, leveraging Bell’s backing, support and stocking infrastructure.
