HL970A wheel loader takes up residence at the Dannenmuller stone quarry

Established in 1943, T Dannenmuller, located at Polliat (01) in the French region of Ain, is an independent family run enterprise which has three generations of experience in the production and sale of aggregates. The company has just bought a new HL970A wheel loader from Hyundai Construction Equipment through the local agent, Curty Matériels.

Today the company has a staff of 85 and is headed by Thierry Dannenmuller. The company comprises nine stone quarries situated throughout the department of Ain and the adjoining departments of Saône-et-Loire and Isère. Six of the quarries are large rock quarries and the other three are alluvial. This capacity enables the company to meet its customers’ wide range of needs while also maintaining product quality.

“Dannenmuller is a family owned company which I have been at the head of since 1992. Our main activity is operating stone quarries, transport management, landscaping and demolition civil engineering projects. My grandfather founded the company in 1943,” explained managing director, Thierry Dannenmuller.

Mr Dannenmuller wanted to acquire a new wheel loader for one of the stone quarries, which is the company’s main activity. “In 2019, we purchased a wheel loader - an HL970 - from Hyundai through Curty Matériels and I am very happy with it. It is a good machine, sturdy and reliable. We are very satisfied with the machine, the fuel consumption is reasonable, and if there’s a problem, we have a good agent nearby who is very responsive,” commented Mr Dannenmuller.

Mr Dannenmulller did not hesitate to contact the Hyundai agent for the Lyon region, Curty Matériels, when deciding to purchase a new wheel loader - the HL970A was “to replace a loader from a different manufacturer,” said Mr Dannenmuller. “We know and have worked with Curty for over 20-years and have always enjoyed an excellent working relationship with them, so we did not hesitate to approach them,” he added.




The Ambronay stone quarry
Situated 20 kilometres south of Bourg-en-Bresse, the Dannenmuller gravel quarry in Ambronay sits alongside the RD 1075 to Ambérieu-en-Bugey. The site has a ‘prefectural licence’ to operate for 30 years, which was granted at the beginning of 2020, The area is approximately 60 hectares and has an annual production of 240,000 tonnes.

It’s this quarry where the HL970A wheel loader, which was delivered in September 2020, is working. “At this quarry, our mobile plant is not very far from the extraction area, but we will soon be setting up a fixed treatment plant,” added Dannenmuller. “A dragline, a 70-tonne mechanical cable excavator, extracts sand and alluvial gravel from up to 15 metres deep. The extracted materials are processed at a sifting, washing and crushing plant. The finished products have the correct properties for making concrete.

The new HL970A is mainly used to move granulates to the processing plant. It is in operation a great deal, and so we chose the axle cooling option to prevent overheating, which can be a problem in this type of operation,” explained Dannenmuller.

"Since we are so happy with the new HL970A machine, we swiftly decided to order an identical wheel loader, which is scheduled for delivery early 2021."
Thierry Dannenmuller, director.




The HL970A wheel loader
The HL970A wheel loader is a member of the A series - a new generation of site machinery compliant with Euro Stage V emission standards. It was designed to be robust and reliable in the long-term, to reduce operational costs, and to improve productivity. It weighs in at around 24,000 kg and is equipped with a Cummins L9/ Stage V engine supplying 325 HP gross power (242 kW) at 2,100 rpm. Its bucket capacity is 4.20 m³ (heaped) and 3.60 m³ (struck). The bucket’s breakout force is as much as 21,715 kg.

Unrivalled comfort
Comfort is a big feature of this model. Workdays are often long for the operators on site so, they must be happy with their machine, comfort also means that less ‘recovery’ breaks are needed! This model offers operators a very high standard of comfort.

The HL970A is equipped as standard with a wide, comfortable, heated air suspension seat. Both the seat and the armrest are fully adjustable. The dashboard is optimised for easy, rapid and straightforward access to the machine’s status data while it is in operation. It is also equipped with a touch-screen monitor which is clearly laid out and intuitive.

Guillaume Palierne, who has been an operator with the company for the past nine confirmed this. “I am inside this wheel loader for 8-9 hours a day, and it really is very comfortable. The screen is very intuitive so fairly easy to use. Each day I do around 175 round trips. So, on an average day, I am carrying around 1,400 tonnes, as each bucket load is 8 tonnes fully loaded. But that is an average, it can carry 1,500 tonnes a day. The HL970A is the ideal machine for my job.”

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