The move goes a long way towards achieving the company’s objective of increasing its current UK product support division by 50 per cent, which represents a substantial growth in Bell’s current customer support commitment.
The depot, in Almond Road, Falkirk, incorporates a team of sales, service support and logistics staff as well as a new parts division.
It will operate as a satellite base to Bell’s UK headquarters in Staffordshire and will provide exclusive support for the ADT manufacturer’s regional customers.
The Falkirk depot is Bell UK’s first operation to have been set up outside England and, as such, represents a significant expansion by Bell across the UK and Irish market as a whole.
Neville Paynter, Managing Director of Bell Equipment UK, said: “The decision to open a new support and parts depot in Scotland demonstrates how important the Scottish market is to Bell.
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“Bell UK has seen very strong growth in market share north of the border and we wanted to reflect that by showing our commitment to customers in the region.
“We’ve had a sales presence in Scotland for three years, but this is the first time we’ve had an exclusive parts depot outside England. It will certainly help improve response times for Scottish customers.”
Bell Equipment UK has seen significant growth in its UK business, with an increase in sales of 40 per cent in the past 3 years. Bell’s Scottish business has seen a 50 per cent increase in sales over the same period.
The Falkirk depot will provide a formal office base for Bell’s existing Scottish regional Sales Manager George Graham.
He will initially be joined by two service engineers and a parts store manager. Further expansion of the Scottish operation is planned in the future.
Mr Graham said: “This is a really positive step forward. It’s definitely going to make my job easier as we’ve now got a much quicker back-up in place for supplying our customers with service support and spare parts.
“Bell’s presence in Scotland is still a fairly recent thing, but it’s all falling into place now. I can only see this new depot as a big benefit to Bell UK – and especially to Bell’s Scottish customer base.”
The move has already been applauded by Bell Equipment’s customers in Scotland.
Bill Marsh, general manager of Glasgow-based plant hire firm AB 2000, said he was impressed by Bell’s decision to commit so strongly to the Scottish market after such a relatively short presence in Scotland.
“It shows a real commitment by Bell," he said. “The fact that they now carry stock at the depot can only be a good thing. Response from Bell has always been good, but this will make it really handy for us and, when we need parts urgently, we won’t have to wait for them to come up from the south.”
(CD/SP)
