Company:Liebherr Group

Liebherr Group
	Liebherr in Gillette, Wyoming
Type	Aktiengesellschaft
Industry	Heavy equipment
Founded	1949; 75 years ago
Headquarters	Bulle, Switzerland
Key people	Isolde Liebherr and Willi Liebherr, CEO & Chairman
Products	Construction & Agriculture Machinery, refrigerators
Revenue	€ 10.551 billion. (2018)
Operating income	€ 632 million (2018)
Net income	€ 321 million (2018)
Total assets	€ 13.785 billion (2018)
Total equity	€ 7.570 billion (2018)
Number of employees	46,169 (2018)
Subsidiaries	Kato Works
Website	www.liebherr.com

Short description: German heavy equipment company

The Liebherr Group is a multinational equipment manufacturer based in Switzerland with its main production facilities and origins in Germany.

It consists of over 130 companies organized into eleven Divisions: Earthmoving, Mining, Mobile cranes, Tower cranes, Concrete technology, Maritime cranes, Aerospace and transportation systems, Machine tools and automation systems, Domestic appliances, and Components. It has a worldwide workforce of over 42,000, with 9 billion euros in revenue for 2017.^[1] By 2007, it was the world's largest crane company. Established in 1949 by Hans Liebherr^[2] in Kirchdorf an der Iller, Baden-Württemberg, Germany , the business is still entirely owned by the Liebherr family. Isolde (daughter of Hans) and Willi (son of Hans) Liebherr are the chief executive and chairman of the Bulle, Switzerland -based Liebherr-International AG, and several other family members are actively involved in corporate management.

In 2005, Forbes magazine listed them as billionaires. In 1974, the Franklin Institute awarded Hans Liebherr the Frank P. Brown Medal.^[3]

History

Starting by building affordable tower cranes, Liebherr expanded into making aircraft parts – it is a significant supplier to European Airbus airplane manufacturer – and commercial chiller displays and freezers, as well as domestic refrigerators. The group also produces some of the world's biggest mining and digging machinery, including loaders, excavators and extreme-size dump trucks. The T 282 B is the world's 2nd biggest truck (after BelAZ 75710). The group's nine-axle mobile crane, the LTM 11200-9.1 – with a 100 metres (328 ft) telescopic boom – in 2007 received the heavy-lifting industry's Development of the Year award for being the world's most powerful example of such a machine.

Over the years, the family business has grown into a group of varied companies and has locations in many countries, including Germany, Australia, Britain, Ireland, Turkey and the United States . Since 1958, its Irish factory in Killarney, Co. Kerry has built container cranes, exporting them worldwide through the port of Fenit. In Australia, the group in 2013 commenced an AU$65 million expansion of their local headquarters in Adelaide. The development includes adding a new three-storey office, workshops, warehouse, component plant, and distribution centre to the Para Hills facility.^[4] In the U.S., the group in 2012 started spending US$45.4 million (about €34.1 million) on a three-year renovation and expansion of its Newport News, Virginia factory, offices and warehouse. The company sought to increase its production there beyond 100 mining trucks a year. On 19 February 2013, representatives from the Commonwealth of Virginia and the cities of Newport News and Hampton announced that they would make grants and incentives available for transport improvement, training, and property investment.^[5] In addition, the Liebherr Group owns six hotels in Ireland, Austria and Germany.^[6]

In April 2014, Liebherr announced they would invest 160 million euros at its production site in Bulle, Switzerland.^[7]

By 2017, Liebherr had expanded its workforce to 43,869 employees. ^[8] That same year, the company announced it had achieved the highest turnover in the Group's history, with sales of € 9,845 million.^[9] In 2018, Liebherr generated a turnover of €10,551 million , breaking through the €10 billion barrier for the first time in the company's history.^[10]

Products

The line of products manufactured by the company includes:

Earth moving equipment
Mining equipment
Cranes: mobile, crawler, tower, maritime, mobile construction
Diesel engines
Deep foundation machines
Concrete handling equipment
Material handling equipment
Port equipment
Machine tools
Automation systems
Domestic refrigerators and freezers
Aircraft equipment
Hotels
Mechanical, hydraulic, electrical and electronic components and subcomponents^[11]

Liebherr has the world's most powerful and tallest crawler crane in LR 13000. It is capable of lifting 3,000 tonnes (2,953 long tons; 3,307 short tons) and has a maximum pulley height of 248 metres (814 ft). This is achieved with the attachment of an additional 126-metre-long (413 ft) lattice jib to the 248-metre (814 ft) main boom. The height of the crawler chassis is an additional 2 m (6 ft 7 in), which gives the lattice structure a total height of 248 m (814 ft). The maximum hoisting height is 245 m (804 ft) and the total ballast used is 1,900 tonnes (1,870 long tons; 2,094 short tons), including 1,500 tonnes (1,476 long tons; 1,653 short tons) of derrick ballast.^[12]^[13]