Poullard operates at Lèves in the Eure-et-Loir region, a few kilometres from Chartres and specialises in landscaping, roads and utilities infrastructure and demolition. The company acquired its first machine from Hyundai, the HL970A loader, from local dealership Inter Locations Matériels at the start of this year.
The company has continued to develop since being founded in 1979 and it opened a recycling platform called Granudem in 2005, managed by Aline Poullard and located in Chartres-Poisvilliers. In 2014, it created a company specialising in asbestos removal, lead removal, technical cleaning and dust extraction called Chartres Amiante.
Stéphane Poullard is chairman of the business that bears the family name and was founded by his father Alain Poullard.
He uses a number of different machines for this work (crusher, bucket, etc.) from a variety of manufacturers. But a problem with his last loader led him to invest in the Hyundai HL970A wheeled loader.
"I hire a lot of equipment from Franck Hoyau of Inter Locations Matériels all year round," he says. "I've known him for more than twenty years, and it was only natural for me to turn to him when I started looking for a new machine. I had the opportunity to visit Tessenderlo in Belgium to try out machines, which was a big help in reaching a decision.
"What I liked the most was the 360-degree view provided by the Hyundai AAVM system. The strong point on this machine is safety - something genuinely important to me. Mainly used at the company's recycling site, it also features a weighing system and a 4500 litre bucket, both of which are perfect for my business."
The loader is an A-series model: a new generation of construction equipment that complies with the European Stage V emission standards. It is designed for long-term ruggedness and reliability to reduce the costs of business operations and improve productivity.
It offers an operating weight of 24,200kg and is equipped with a Cummins L9/EU Stage-V engine that delivers a gross power of 325 horsepower (242kW) at 2,100rpm. Its bucket capacity is 4.20m3 (heaped) and 3.60m3 (struck). The bucket’s digging force is as much as 21,715kg
"My father originally started his business on his own," explains Pollard. "A lot of his business came from machine rental for companies such as Colas and, little by little, he started to work on sites of increasing scale over the years as the company grew."
Stéphane Poullard joined the company full-time in 2000, first as a site foreman before becoming a works supervisor. There were around ten employees in the company at the time and Poullard now has 25 employees on the payroll with a turnover of €4.3m.
The company mainly covers the Eure-et-Loire region, a small area in Yvelines and Essonne. "We cover an area of forty or even fifty kilometres from the company site, but we try to stay within an hour's drive," he adds.
