‘Welded’ to cutting-edge service: the B.E.D. Group always goes the extra mile
The Bolt and Engineering Distributors (B.E.D.) Group is proud to host one of the finest welding and cutting operations in the country, whose team members together count over a century’s combined welding and cutting experience between them.
While they are based at the welding and cutting repair centres of the Wadeville and Cape Town branches, the team works all over the country on a national basis, as required.
The B.E.D. Group is a well-known and respected industry force that supplies a comprehensive range of locally produced and imported fasteners, as well as quality tools, welding and cutting equipment and consumables, bearings, lifting products, PPE (personal protective equipment), industrial paints and thinners, and oils and lubricants to South African industry.
The B.E.D. welding and cutting repair centre based in Wadeville – which also serves as the Group’s head office – is headed by Cutting, Welding and Brazing Product Specialist, Manager Craig Bister, together with product welding and cutting specialists Michael Calado and Sean Christian; as well as Hannes Olckers, Marc Mjwana and Mario Calado in the workshop. Ewan Jubileus manages the Cape Town welding and cutting division repair centre.
A complementary offering and logical progression
Bister explains: “People in the industry are very aware of the B.E.D. Group’s core expertise in fasteners. Additionally, we have, over time, grown our complementary product and service offerings as a logical progression. Today, this includes a well-established one-stop welding and cutting division, which successfully provides a wide portfolio of locally-produced as well as imported products, together with any services a customer may require. We work mainly in the automotive, agricultural, mining, general industry and fabrication industries.”
Strong relationships with premium welding brands
The B.E.D. Group imports and distributes premium quality brands from an impressive list of international and local suppliers, including Hypertherm, Fronius, GYS and Messer. With regards to the latter, the Group has a joint distribution agreement with First Cut and is the exclusive Messer distributor to the mining sector, in which B.E.D. is very well known and established.
Extensive personal experience
Over and above its relationships with premium quality brands, says Bister, the welding and cutting division is extremely successful because its team members are driven by a passion for welding. In addition to their combined expertise, they are a very tightly-knit, cohesive group.
“We all worked for prominent companies in the welding industry before joining the B.E.D. Group,” he explains, “and we brought this extensive prior knowledge and experience with us into the B.E.D. welding and cutting division, including significant experience within Africa. Our offering also includes robotics welding and semi-automation, which is a uniquely specialised area requiring particular skills. All told, I believe that together our team across the country presents one of the strongest that you could find in the local welding industry.”
Going the extra mile
Bister notes that the experienced team in the B.E.D. Group’s Wadeville welding and cutting division repair centre possesses superior experience in the technical repair and operations of all welding equipment, and the company’s workshops are certified by Fronius International GMbH and Hypertherm South Africa.
“After we receive a customer’s welding machine for repair, we diagnose the faults on the equipment and provide the customer with a detailed repair quotation, we do not charge for this technical diagnosis, the customer is only charged for the repair if the quotation is accepted. “The B.E.D. Group’s welding and cutting division further differentiates itself by offering four mobile demonstration and assessment vehicles, three of which service Gauteng and the surrounding provinces, with a fourth one based in the Western Cape.”
He clarifies that the vehicles are fully kitted with welding and cutting demonstration equipment.
“Our technical experts can therefore carry out demonstrations at our customers’ premises and also assess the current condition of their equipment, providing a detailed welding assessment document for the customer at no charge. We also offer technical advice and support on-site, which customers may require,” he explains.
“Having grown from just one individual in the welding and cutting division into the strong unit that it is today – comprising seven dedicated and passionate experts – the B.E.D. Group is proud to offer our welding and cutting expertise and solutions to local industry. As with the rest of the Group, we subscribe to the Bolt and Engineering Distributors’ ethos and culture of ‘100/0’: taking responsibility 100% of the time, with zero excuses!
We are proud to offer a differentiated welding and cutting service experience which constantly exceeds expectations – and adds value to our customers’ businesses. We look forward to continuing to grow and provide service excellence in the future,” concludes Bister.
