August 14, 2019
Ryan Williams, Owner of Full Circle Aggregates and Atomic Sand in Beech Island, SC, began a sand mine/dredge operation a little over a year ago where they manufacture DOT grade concrete and sports sand for golf courses, baseball fields, and other specialty applications. In a recent Hyundai interview, he explained why he chose a Hyundai HL980 wheel loader and HX330L excavator for his business.
“We started off at Atomic Sand with our new Hyundai HL 980 front-end wheel loader, and we’ve been using it ever since. It’s been a great piece of equipment for us… very reliable in a sand application,” said Ryan.
HL980 Wheel Loader- A Three Pass Machine
Ryan chose the HL980 wheel loader for its size because they move quite a bit of sand out of the mine. They needed a machine large enough to keep up with the demand, and found the HL980 to be a three pass machine which they think is great – three scoops per tractor-trailer, and the trucks are out the gate.
“We’ve only got one loader on this site, so we needed a dependable piece of equipment to stay in business. Our HL980 has been just that… it’s been dependable. We can count on it running every day and in a sand environment. Running a sand mine is quite tasking. You’ve got to have a piece of equipment that can stand up to the demand of the harsh environment, long workdays, and temperatures that we have down here in the Southeast. We’ve found that our Hyundai equipment has performed beyond our expectations.”
“The size and power of the HL980 loader is necessary at Atomic Sand to keep up with truck flow and our customers happy. Features like Hyundai’s on-board scales definitely add value to our company because usually those are aftermarket, and you have to install that on other brands. With Hyundai, that comes standard, so that was a definite benefit for our operation.”
“You can imagine running a sand mine is quite demanding. We chose to go with Hyundai for several reasons. Obviously the price point was attractive, but me being an operator myself, I wanted to make sure that my guys were as comfortable and productive as possible. So I ran the piece of equipment, found that the ergonomics of the cab were equivalent if not superior to other leading brands, and so that along with the dependability that I had read about, we decided to give Hyundai a chance, and we’re glad that we did.”
Atomic Sand also has a HX330L excavator they purchased from May Heavy Equipment which they use for land clearing as well as sand mining.
“It’s been flawless for us for well over a year now. A lot of our mining land here is still virgin, so we need to clear quite a bit of land, and quickly. We found that our HX330L with a hydraulic thumb installed makes taking large trees down a snap. We really enjoyed clearing land with it due to it’s size and power. It makes it no work at all.”
“The HX330L is plenty large enough to move material and not fatigue the operator or the machine. We can keep up with the demand with no problem and the hydraulics on that particular unit are extremely responsive and fast. With the very comfortable ergonomics, it makes for a short day in that machine as well.”
“Another huge selling point for me on Hyundai was the fact that when we took this mine over, there was a an older Hyundai 290 excavator that had well over 17,000 hours on it, and it’s still running today like a top. That gives you a prime example of the longevity of this equipment. It makes me feel good to know you can get that kind of hours out of a machine. It’s got to be built right.”
Atomic Sand has worked closely with May Heavy Equipment , (rebranded now as NED,) their dealer in S.C., ever since they purchased their Hyundai equipment.
“Folks like Matt Teets with May Heavy Equipment in sales, and working with the guys at May, just makes life a lot easier.”
Pictured L to R: Matt Teets, May Heavy Equipment, Sales, shakes hands with Ryan Williams, Atomic Sand, Full Circle Aggregates, Owner
Watch the video to hear the rest of Ryan’s story, and what he likes about working with his Hyundai dealer, May Heavy Equipment.
