A specialist in civil engineering, utilities, quarrying, earth working, snow clearing and transport, Bouzon-Barral was founded in the 1950s by François Bouzon, father of the current managing director Christian Bouzon. Now the company needed a new loader as an upgrade for its various activities. The Hyundai Construction Equipment dealer for the region, Curty Matériels, suggested the HL965 loader.

 

Located at Mâcot-la-Plagne (Savoie), around 20 km from the renowned ski station of La Plagne in the Tarentaise valley, the family-run Bouzon-Barral company is now managed by Christian Bouzon, son of the founder, who took over the company at the age of 33 in the 1990s when his father retired. Mainly specialising in civil engineering, quarrying and transport, the company also carries out snow clearing for ski stations, in particular at Aime-La Plagne, for which it has been responsible for nearly 30 years.

 

And it was precisely for this snow clearing activity that Christian Bouzon needed a new loader. "In fact for the snow clearing contract, the Aime 2000 community wanted modern machines with less than 3000 hours on the clock. And since my old loader was racking up the hours, it needed to be replaced", explains the company director.

 

So he turned to the Hyundai Construction Equipment dealer for the Lyon region to buy this new HL965 loader. As well as the snow clearing activity which was carried out this winter for the Aime-La Plagne bus station, the HL965 loader has been working since April for around seven months on the recycling site at Bellentre, near Bourg-Saint-Maurice. "The company actually has a small recycling site by the Isère river, around 5 km from the warehouse. A few years ago, we were dredging in the river but had to stop over time and convert the quarry into a recycling site", comments this enthusiast, who now owns thirty trucks. For this activity, the loader will supply the crusher and sieve, and load the trucks with its 3,600 litre capacity bucket.

 
The HL965 loader from Hyundai

The HL965 loader was designed to be robust and reliable in the long term in order to reduce operating costs and improve productivity. It has a weight in running order of 20,100 kg and is equipped with a Cummins QSL9 phase IV diesel engine with electronic control which gives a gross power of 272 hp (200 kW) at 2100 rpm.

 

"Stable and agile, it is also very comfortable", comments Christian Bouzon. Now the cabin has been improved, it is much quieter than before and offers 10% more space (in comparison with series 9a); it also has a fully adjustable seat giving the operator an ergonomic working environment and optimum comfort.

 

The HL965 also offers an improved load capacity. The maximum axle load capacity is 44,000 kg on the front and 35,000 kg on the rear with standard 23.5 R25, L3 tyres. All machines in the Hyundai HL900 series are fitted as standard with the on-board weighing system exclusive to the brand. This system, with an accuracy of +/- 1%, offers automatic or manual configuration for individual or cumulative weighing of bucket loads. The measurements performed by the system are displayed on the multifunction screen in the cab, which allows reliable control of the load weight and improves the efficiency of production management.