A paradigm shift in a recovering economy may seem quite a mouthful for most but as a central conference theme, it was clearly illustrated by strategist Tony Manning, the guest speaker at the 13th annual Business Partners' Conference hosted by Bell Equipment recently.

The conference, attended by over 90 suppliers to Bell Equipment who were hosted by some 45 Bell employees, took place at the Emperor's Palace casino and entertainment resort near to Bell Equipment's Jet Park offices. The conference kicked off with an informal tour and supper held at the company's Global Logistics Centre (GLC) at Jet Park.

Above: Bell Suppliers who have achieved Gold Status in the Quest for Gold evaluation programme for 2010 included (back left): Alex Cacchione (Voith Turbo), Pieter van Rooyen (TruckAfrica SA), Otto Coetzee (Supersafe Sys), Peter Clifton (Morcor SA), Tyrell Newell (Michelin SA), Shawn Pirie (Goscor Arc), Wayne Evans (Laser Junction), Wayne Davis (Eaton SA); (front left): Arif Şerif Güzelsoy (Parsan), Hennie Hattingh (Trelleborg SA), Orhan Metin (Parsan), Patrick Orman (Macsteel Special Steels), Marcus Nel (Macsteel Trading), Nish Naidu (Macsteel VRN), Rajen Moodley (Alexander Binzel). To achieve Gold Status suppliers have to meet the required standards for due date delivery, quality, cost, warranty, technical support and flexibility.

Manning's vibrant presentation style certainly evoked much thought of how different business can be and got delegates talking, especially to each other.

Left: Bell Equipment Commercial Director, Leon Goosen with Nils Lutz of Global Composites, Glenn Daff of BSI Steel and special guest Gary Teichmann of Teichmann Plant Hire before the awards dinner.

Bell Equipment Chief Executive Gary Bell started proceedings with an overview of the company and how it had recovered after the global economic downturn of the previous two years. Bell apologized to the company's business partners and suppliers who had been negatively affected by the company's reaction to the down turn but emphasized a positive outlook going forward.

"The economic woes of the world forced us to change strategies, to weather the storms and to sustain our business," Gary told the delegates. "We want to share some of these changes in strategies with you and we believe in doing so, we will all not only survive, but prosper as well."

As is always the case, delegates came from far and wide to attend this popular conference. Orhan Metìn is an Export and Business Development engineer with Parsan, a steel forging and machining supplier based in Istanbul, Turkey. This was the ninth Bell conference he had attended. "I believe one should talk to your customers on a face-to-face basis and coming here, gives me the opportunity to do just that," he said. "This gives us a better understanding of our clients' needs and helps us to fulfill our role as important suppliers."

DEMS is a company that supplies rubber molded and machined parts to Bell Equipment and their representative, Claire Perrins was attending her sixth conference. She enjoys the networking with both client and other suppliers and thought back fondly to the first conference she had attended in Swaziland in 2005.

Solly Hattia represented OE Coach Supplies, based in Selby in Johannesburg. "We find this type of conference important to give us direction as to where our clients want us to go and to network with other suppliers as well. This has been the sixth or seventh conference that I've attended and it is as always, very stimulating," he said.

This year's Bell Business Partners' Conference was the first that Paddy O' Doherty had attended. Paddy is the chairman of PEFCO, a company based in Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal that manufactures castings. He said of the conference: "I'm really glad I attended as this will help us in our forward planning. Networking opportunities with both client and supplier have been a bonus."

The conference ended with a black-tie dinner on Friday evening during which the awards for the top suppliers were presented.