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Repair the wear in historic Béarn

The former province of Béarn in south-western France is tucked away on the eastern side of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Steeped in history, its strategic location controls access to easy passage into the Pyrénées Mountains, and it is said that during the Napoleonic wars, Wellington's army passed through 'the Béarn,' where it won an important battle at Orthez and set up a garrison at Pau on its way to Spain.
February 29, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Cat AP655D asphalt paver
Laffitte's new Cat AP655D large asphalt paver at work in Lac
The former province of Béarn in south-western France is tucked away on the eastern side of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Steeped in history, its strategic location controls access to easy passage into the Pyrénées Mountains, and it is said that during the Napoleonic wars, Wellington's army passed through 'the Béarn,' where it won an important battle at Orthez and set up a garrison at Pau on its way to Spain.

Today, the area supports a rich combination of industry, agriculture, and tourism, and keeping the infrastructure up-to-date is, in part, the job of the family-owned Laffitte enterprise, which employs 40 people and specialises in utility and public works.

With the help of French dealer 2154 Bergerat Monnoyeur, Laffitte recently took delivery of a new Cat AP655D large asphalt paver with an AS4251C screed with electric heat option. The contractor selected the zrubber track undercarriage to handle a variety of paving projects. Laffitte already owned and operated Cat compactors and hydraulic excavators.

According to 178 Caterpillar, the capabilities of the MTS undercarriage were tailor made to fit the geographic variety of the region, which includes rolling hills, valleys, gorges and spectacular mountainous terrain.

The Cat paving machine commissioning crew, led by Bergerat Monnoyeur technical expert Jean-François Lahargou and three additional dealer technicians, delivered the paver and set it to work for a two-day period. Its maiden challenge was to complete a parking lot project and its entry point in the town of Lac.

Despite the heat, crews and dealer technicians completed hands-on, on site training in all machine functions, operation and maintenance. They worked together to lay down a 60mm asphalt mat for a width of 5m, learning machine functions along the way, and on day two, crews moved to another site to lay down a 50mm thick mat (width 5m) for entry roads to a canoe/slalom course.

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