BELL-FRUIT MACHINES CHANGE BUT
THE HIGH STANDARDS REMAIN
,,.
The only way to get an
accurate overall ·impres-
sion of the massive Bell-
Fruit Manufacturing
Company complex at Leen
Gate, Lenton, Nottingham,
is to take a bird's eye
view from the air. And as
our colour picture shows,
it is a most impressive
sight. The workshops,
assembly areas, offices,
research laboratories and
ancillary departments
cover a staggering five
acres of land, making
Bell-Fruit one of the
largest manufacturing
and operating companies
in the world.
The name Bell-Fruit is
instantly recognised in
any country where there
is an amusement machine
industry. Ever since the
company arrived on the
scene as an amusement
machine manufacturer in
the 1960s their name has
been synonymous with
quality and flair.
Their main business,
has, of course, always
been geared to a wide
variety of fruit machines
in the A WP and Club
ranges. When the video
game craze sent the
industry into orbit Bell-
Fruit stuck to their guns
and throughout the fran-
tic period now referred to
as the video boom con-
stantly developed and
improved ,their already
impressive ranges of
A WP and Club machines.
Customer-demand de-
creed, however, that
Leisure Play - September
• Jim Stevenson, left, Managing Director, Bell-Fruit Manufacturing Company Ltd. and Peter
Quaintmere, Production Director.
Bell-Fruit
should
manufacture some video
game machines. This they
did by purchasing PC
boards from Namco on an
exclusive basis.
Mr. Jim Stevenson,
Managin_g Director of
Bell-Fruit Manufacturing
Co. Ltd., said: "The fruit
machine market is very
strong for us. Video
games will remain a
fundamental part of the
amusement machine busi-
ness but not on the level
of the last two years or so.
Our business is really
fruit machines of one
variety or another. It is
fair to say that our
history, our present
strength and our future
lies in fruit machines. It is
not in Amusement Only
machines.''
Bell-Fruit's present
manufacturing capacity
is in excess of 800
machines a week. This
tremendous output was
made possible with the
opening in 1978 of two
massive factory com-
plexes ( seen in the centre
of the picture with blue
roof-tops). This is where
the bulk of the production
work takes place. Bell-
Fruit manufacture their
own cabinets and the
production operation
starts with the delivery of
timber and continues
through the two main
factories until the fin-
ished machines are ready
for final testing.
Production Director
Peter Quaintmere pointed
out an interesting aspect
of the final assembly
process. They work on a
one - man - one - machine
basis which, says Peter,
provides excellent re-
sults. The assembly
worker picks up a cabinet
and a complete kit, the
latter sent down from the
sub-assembly department
on the floor above. He
takes them away and
works on that one
machine until it is
completed. "We find the
worker takes more inter-
est in his job this way,"
said Peter. "It is his
machine and he _ takes a
real pride in it. We find
this method far superior
to one which involves
different people working
on different stages of the
Page Eleven